I think when you don't know where you stand with someone, they can surprise you in their goodness and their badness, and that makes them human.
I love telling stories. I like the challenges presented to me on a daily basis. There's nothing resting about acting.
All my good friends are actors, really. It's different when you have a family, but they're still the people I meet most often. My best friend is Ian Hart, but then I've known him since I was five.
I've moved into directing as well as acting, and it has taught me never to take casting personally.
I think the corruption of power is very interesting, and I think the idea that power is something that... You know, when people want power, they're a certain individual. When people acquire power by accident, they're different again.
When you are an actor, rejection and disappointment are an occupational hazard.
The reason I wanted to start directing is that as an actor I felt I came into a job late. There's a whole team of people who have been working on it for months before you start. You have this really intense period of filming and then you leave it, knowing that the director will work on it for another few months.
The great thing about coming from where I come from - Liverpool and my family - is that we're very close. I have a great relationship with my siblings and their kids.
I'm not a perfectionist at all. I find perfectionists boring because the real creative heart is in the mess somewhere.
The biggest difference between British TV and American TV is money. But what money doesn't do on American TV, which I thought it would, is buy you time. You don't get more time. You get more toys.