Im lucky enough to work with, I think, the greatest writer theres ever been, Shakespeare. Whose collected works would always be under my pillow if I was only ever allowed one book to keep, and who never bores me.

What did my parents say when I told them I wanted to be an actor? 'Be a plumber.'

We'll be back. I promise you that.

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.

Books don't exist unless you read them. And it's a two way process - you write the book as you read it and you fill in the gaps. You discover it and you put the marks together and without you doing it they're just marks.

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.