Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.
We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? Especially if you are an actor.
I did a lot of acting at school and university, then I went to drama school. It was quite a normal route.
I'm a Prince of Wales Trust ambassador, so I'm all about giving youth an education, a voice and a chance to not take the wrong road.
I wish my 15-year-old self had known about my allure to the opposite sex!
I struggle to learn by rote. I've had meltdowns on set. Which is embarrassing and shameful.
One of the fears of having too much work is not having time to observe. And once you get recognised, there is nowhere for you to look any more. You can't sit on a night bus and watch it all happen.
There's so much in the 21st century that is stymied by bureaucracy and mediocrity and committee.
I've realised now that the reality of children is you have to be in the right place with the right person.
Fame is a weird one. You need to distance yourself from it. People see a value in you that you don't see yourself.
To get a horse to hit a mark without a rider, to get it to stand up, to get it to rear, to get it to pick up a bucket and bring it over is amazing. It's hard work and very rewarding but can be dangerous.
I wasn't born into land or titles, or new money, or an oil rig.
My first, big, silly role at school was as Arthur Crocker-Harris in Rattigan's 'The Browning Version,' where my job was to make school-masters' wives weep with recognition.
When you start getting jobs, and see your mates from drama school, you don't really want to talk about it, because you have this innate sense of guilt that it's not fair that others aren't doing exactly what you're doing. I do have that.
I love doing impersonations of people.
When you freefall for 7,000 feet it doesn't feel like you're falling: it feels like you're floating, a bit like scuba diving.
It's difficult because nothing's preordained by plan and you can't control it. That's one of those joys and thrills and nerve-racking realities of being an actor. A lot has to do with luck, no matter what your talent or contribution can be.
If people ask, 'Are you Sherlock Holmes?', it's horribly naff, but I say, 'I'm not, I just look a bit like him' - which is how I feel. There are bad attributes of his that I really don't share!
I drag a lot of stuff round with me that I don't need.
I was brought up in a world of privilege.
