Quotes

I love music and hopefully I'll be able to do something with it - I just have to find time to get into the studio and record a few songs.

It's much better as an actor if you can bring as much of yourself as possible to a character.

I've been singing all of my life, one way or another.

When I was at drama school some of the teachers, who were very wise, said to me, 'You're going to be a great actor in your 50s. Now, you're not malleable enough. You're doing one thing well but you need to loosen up a bit.' That happens to actors. You learn more about it and hopefully you get better at it as you get older.

Because of 'Line Of Duty's proper adherence to police procedure, by definition we end up doing some very long interrogation scenes which are difficult to learn, and require lots of concentration to sustain them across shooting.

We were always reminded by our teachers that careers take off at different times. They held up Arthur Lowe as a great example of an actor who works for years and then suddenly he gets a part and everybody knows him.

I've been sweating away for 30 years - then I became Hastings.

The variety of my career is amazing and amazingly satisfying.

You don't want to be acting your way towards something. The sense of believability has to be great, so bringing it as close to yourself as you can always helps.

I have been doing stuff for a long time now and you would be in people's consciousness. But when you get something like a gift to play Ted Hastings, and some fabulous writing to get behind and a great crew, it suddenly allows people to go - 'I always knew he was good.'

I try and speak out on things that affect where I live in London, and at home in Enniskillen. For instance, I am very keen we get our bypass - the town is completely clogged with traffic and it's one of the most beautiful inland towns in Ireland.

You don't want to alienate your audiences, so you have to be careful but yet you have to be true enough to what you believe.

I was really proud of the response to the first series of 'Blood.' Right from the get-go I knew it was a really good yarn and that it would have a chance if we got it right.

I think 'Blood' is honest about the dysfunction of family life and Jim will have to get to the bottom of secrets being kept from him.

I'd actually love to do comedy. It would be great to go to work to get a laugh.

I'm over the moon to play an iconic character like Ted Hastings and for my career to be defined by this role - that's a place very few actors get to.

I try to get out to The Skelligs, and people will know The Skelligs from 'Star Wars' and so forth, but they really are the most incredible monastic settlement on this island off the south coast, the Kerry coast.

I was in bands many years ago, so that's where it started. I played in bands, sang backing vocals and all the rest of it.

I don't know anyone else I could have hooked up with who could have handled me. I've got my woman and she's a very good one.

I think if we had an All-Ireland economy and the North was in the U.K. and in the E.U. that would be very good for the North.

The 'Mother of God' stuff comes from my dad who used to use that all the time. He would say, 'Mother of God' all the time. He used to just say 'Mother' and we know what he meant.

When you're young and a teenager, there's an air of excitement about living with a time when you have to grasp life as much as you can because it may be taken from you.

I would hope that the Government would still support those small, struggling independent theatre companies and also maybe look to the built architecture of the theaters because we can't let them get into disrepair. They are part of the fabric of the country.

The Frank Matcham theaters in the West End in particular are incredible pieces of architecture.

You hope that some day a part will come along and you can do your stuff and people will go, 'oh that's good.' I just got very lucky.