Very often my weekends are spent performing on Saturday, on stage in the afternoon and again in the evening.

Shakespeare wrote all there is that we need to know about dementia in 'King Lear.

Many actors have protested about mobile phones going off in theatres, but the real menace now is people texting during a show. It may only disturb a few people around them, but for me, as an actor, when I spot them answering their emails, I am outraged.

I would say critically of myself that I am somebody without secrets. Sometimes acting depends on you having a secret. I don't think I've ever had that.

Childhood didn't have a big influence on me, really - in fact I spent most of it plotting how to escape.

I don't practise any religion but I am deeply interested in the answers that mankind has come up with to explain the human situation.

The elderly are all someone's flesh and blood and we cannot just shut them in a cupboard and hand over the responsibility for taking care of them to the state.