There's no social media or Googling yourself. You only have to do it once to learn never to do it again.
I think anyone who has a passion for what they love to do, and who pursue it, is inspirational for me.
If I'm not completely daunted, I'm not interested.
I can't actually pinpoint anything that made me want to be an actor - I just did. And then anything after that just fueled it.
Merlin is the unsung hero who is often responsible for things turning out positively, but rarely gets credit for that.
For me, one of my favorites, director-wise, is Tim Burton. I also really admire the work of actors like Sean Penn. He is probably my favorite actor because of his dedication and commitment to roles, and the ability to morph and change himself when he needs to. It's about dedication and commitment and a passion.
It doesn't have to happen for anybody at all, this acting game, so you have to count your blessings. If I am lucky that the right things have come along at the right time, I'm just going to ride that wave.
When I think of Camelot, I think of the castle in France where we film, but I think it's wrong to lock it down to one place because it's all part of our imagination. They are legends for a reason. Their stories have endured for hundreds of years and, hopefully, they will for hundreds of years to come.
Hats off to Julian and Johnny, the producers, for sticking to their guns with the five-season story arc of 'Merlin'. It would have been too easy to give in to demand and stretch the show on beyond their original plan because of its incredible success.
I never choose a genre over quality. I never think, 'I want to do that,' and sacrifice the fact it might not be very good.
I read 'The Crystal Cave' book by Mary Stewart, and I thought it was a really, really interesting part of the legend, in which Merlin could enter into the cave with these crystals and see reflections of the future in them and learn how to use that and harness those powers for himself.
The enormous responsibility and protectiveness a man has to feel towards his family when they are threatened was a revelation to me. I have now experienced manhood.
Who wouldn't want to be wizard, at least for a day, as long as you didn't have the dilemmas and the situations that Merlin was thrown into. I'd be happy if you could actually use the powers to have a bit of fun and do something good for the world and maybe for yourself, whereas Merlin's kind of limited in that he has to look after Arthur.
The big, big block in the Arthur/Merlin friendship is the status issue, that Merlin is the servant and Arthur is royalty, and in that time, princes did not socialize with their servants; that wasn't the done thing. It just so happens that their relationship, their friendship, is strong: they have been through the thick and the thin of it all.
In any kid's relationship with their parents, there's always an influence there. You always want to do them proud.
Any kids out there, don't base your homework on 'Merlin.' Just enjoy it and then read the books.
The fans are so supportive. It's amazing when you work on something for so long and find that your fans match your passion - and in many cases exceed it. That's really gratifying.
You look for comic relief in difficult times.
My sights have always been on acting, on the creative process, never the lifestyle. Growing up in Northern Ireland when I did, everything was against you if you wanted to do something like that. But I was determined.
I think TV is a fantastic medium right now because of what you can do visually. It's phenomenal, and it's just getting better and better, but in a way, there's no beating the personal image you can create in your head, with those personal aspects, which you can only get from reading or radio dramas.
