I always start from scratch with a character - they're never based on anyone else. You get ideas of what people look like, and I'm a great people watcher. You can draw inspiration from people.

I have sleepless nights before press days.

I'd been gearing up to working in theatre since coming out of drama school, but it was an exciting time for TV drama - it was the birth of Channel 4, and Brookside was very cutting-edge at the time.

I like to think I'm a listener, and I'm fascinated by observing people - I suppose you just lock that in.

I think you know what you're up against when you take on a piece that you know is going to involve dragging up a lot emotions - you can end up being deeply immersed in gloom.

It always interests me how obsessed people are about age.

If I want to run around a field when I'm 70, I would like to have that option.

Running gave me a focus to start looking after myself, to eat properly, and focus on building up my strength.

Whatever I'm doing, I try to give it everything.

Being an actor is an extension of telling a story and I loved story telling as a child.

No, I always wanted to be an actress.

I have seen so many lands vanish in my wake, torn down like stage sets. What survives of them? An image as fleeting as a dream: whatever beauties I discovered, I already knew by heart.

A bullet fired level from a gun will hit ground at same time as a bullet dropped from the same height. Do the Physics.

Son, brother, father, lover, friend. There is room in the heart for all the affections, as there is room in heaven for all the stars.

He is, most of all, l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.

Any of the great fights you've ever seen, Gomez and Pintor was just better.

Most of the time I dress depending on my mood. I just throw on whatever I feel like wearing at the time, which tends to come from the palette of black, grey or red.

I think it takes a truly strong man to cherish a woman.

I write five pages a day. If you would read five pages a day, we'd stay right even.

The salat can be made up for, but there is no making up for false show or outward worship without presence.

What's so great about making television is that it's a collaborative beast. It's created by a great many hands belonging to a great many people.