We'll be back. I promise you that.

When you are in a bad production there are two things you can do. You can do your best or you can leave. I chose to do the third thing which was sulk.

The idea that if you are very clever you shouldn't be an actor would be laughable in Russia.

I did start reading quite young but I was always read to by my parents, who are both actors. Bedtime stories from when I was about two/three to when I was about 15. In fact they didn't stop until I eventually kind of kicked them out of my bedroom.

I'm not very good at relaxing. Reading's the main thing. On the bus, on the tube, on the loo. Literally all the time. I mean, I don't think there's a moment of the day when I wouldn't be if I was left alone.

I usually play toffs and soldiers, with a sideline in mass murderers.

It would've been hard to do something else, to as it were, run away from the circus and become an accountant.