Quotes

There is always more work to do.

When someone of colour does something out of the ordinary in this business, we hear everyone trumpeting: 'Isn't it wonderful?' but it happens so often now that it's just not newsworthy.

I've always admired people who can shift and change, and pop up in areas you didn't think they could, and that's what I wanted to do.

I was never very cool at school. To be cool, you had to listen to the music everyone else listened to, dress and wear your hair the same. The acceptance of difference was very narrow.

I think in any long relationship, you may have had four different relationships in that time but they all happen to be with the same person, and you've just changed.

I'm just very aware of the differences between the way society treats the sexes. I'm aware of how those things can negatively influence a young mind. I think every parent is aware of that.

Being a dad made me really see what love was.

Never lie to yourself.

We had one TV in the house which sometimes people fought for control over. In those days, you watched one channel at a time and if you missed your programme, well, you missed it.

In the Heat of the Night' is an excellent piece of work.

I think the best characters are people you're not sure of, that you keep on going: 'God, I hate that person,' but you can see why they do what they do. Overall, it's much more interesting to play someone who's not nice.

I was in a show called 'Undercover,' which did one season for the BBC. It was really well written and it was brilliant to be on screen with Sophie Okonedo - I've always wanted a second season of that.

I'm not a fan of the 'Geordie Shore,' 'Towie'-type stuff. I'd rather watch something else, or read a book.

There was a moment at my wedding in 1997 when I got the bumps from all my male friends. We were in the garden and they grabbed me and threw me up and down in the air. It was a fantastic moment of complete irreverence.

Some directors will tell you what to do: stand here, walk over there, sit down. That is the most basic kind of approach, like directing traffic.

An audience can feel when a comedian is confident - and then they will laugh. But if they feel at any point that the comedian is worried or not really on form, then they won't laugh. It's a sixth sense.

If your endgame as an actor is that you want as many people as possible to look at you then that's fine, go do your thing. But we have a greater role - every musician, dancer, singer and actor - and that is to hold a mirror up to society.

As an actor, having to portray a real-life person of extreme talent is fine as long as you're not playing the part on stage and forced to demonstrate that talent to a live audience. If you're in a play portraying an incredible dancer? All well and good, just... don't dance.

I've never worried about what my body looked like, I've been more concerned about what it can do, but since I've turned 40 that's changed a bit. I don't play Mr Rippled Muscly Guy anyway, so I'm off the hook in that sense.

When cosmetic surgery is used to hold back the passage of time I think it's a bit dodgy. I've been at the odd party where I've looked around the room and people are identikit with the hair, the lips, the eyebrows. The face takes on a certain 'look.'

Everything I love about television is encapsulated in how I used to feel watching 'The Sweeney,' 'Starsky & Hutch' and 'Doctor Who' when I was 10.

As an actor playing a role, you are asked to visit certain sides of yourself day after day, night after night. If the portrayal requires you to feel some powerful, negative emotions, then once the curtain comes down or the director shouts cut, elements of these feelings will be left with you.

It doesn't matter what the weather is like - even if it's minus 10 I will go out there and fish.

I'm working really hard on my practice routine which I'm really enjoying and I'm constantly trying to improve with the help of Target Darts.

After school I went to work at a builders' merchant in Stoke. After we finished on a Friday, it was down to the Duke of York for a drink with my mates and a game of darts. Unfortunately for them I had a natural talent and nobody could beat me.