It's nice to get your glad rags on for awards like the Baftas, but it doesn't happen all the time.
At 13, in my first year of Tonbridge, I went up for the part of Macbeth. I was up against the 17- and 18-year-olds, but for some reason I got the part. It made me incredibly unpopular with my peers, but it was the English and drama teachers who stepped in to save me when others wanted me kicked out of the school.
I'm shocked at being recognized. You go to places you don't think you would be and still, you are. Taxi drivers often recognise me... but I haven't got a free ride yet.
You do feel a certain obligation to shows that raise your profile like 'Downton' has. But there are definitely other exciting opportunities out there.
I've never tried to find my real parents. I'm very grateful to my mum and dad for adopting me - they're completely incredible people. It was my dad who encouraged me to question everything, to forge my own path, to think, to read. I always felt it was my right to question everything.
Soap opera seems to be a dirty word, but actually they are the most popular shows we have. People want to know what happens next, people hate the villains and love the lovers. It's good, fun TV. But I wouldn't call 'Downton' a soap opera as such.
I'm shocked at being recognized.
I'm lucky to be married to someone who entirely gets what I do. She is totally sympathetic to the actor's life. Her own mother was an actress, so she sort of grew up with it.
I want to spend as much time as I can with my family, yet I'm aware of having to bring home the bacon.
I don't know much about my biological background.
People look at me, they know I've appeared in costume dramas and they automatically assume I must be a Tory, I must be a certain type of person.
I was never very happy at school.
I never quite toed the line.
I haven't done as many films as I would have liked.
What was interesting was talking to older gay men about what it was like being gay in the Eighties.
I'm a huge fan of Eighties music.
I've been a lucky boy.
The female attention I have to struggle hardest with is from my two-year-old daughter.
Everything's so accelerated now.
Oh, it is quite possible that none of us in 'Downton' will ever again get the ratings this has had. But from a career point of view, it has opened so many doors.
