Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm very good at being out of work.
When I have time, I really enjoy cooking.
I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it.
Being a grandparent is whole new phase in your life.
I wish people would take more care of the countryside.
The more telly you do, the more it feels like a factory.
I'm not very relaxed; I always need to be doing something.
I've been going to Bamburgh for holidays since I was a child.
My family have been around Northumberland for five generations.
My mum Mary was always a bright, confident and fiercely independent lady.
I'm not particularly fond of the past, but I do ramble on about it quite a bit.
I read the papers like everybody else, so I don't complain about what they print.
Oxford has a slightly mythical rep, particularly for people who haven't been there.
I honestly don't think I sought fame. It wasn't something I courted or wanted, particularly.
Being in Oxford can be a bit like being on holiday - there's plenty of time spent in the pub.
I know actors who court personal publicity because they believe no publicity is bad publicity.
With your own children, you love them immediately - and with grandchildren, it's exactly the same.
The real reason I love Bamburgh is that it's the only place in the world where I ever truly relax.
You're very aware in the theater by the response you get, but not so much on television, obviously.
I hate anything with 'celebrity' in the title, where people are playing to the cameras all the time.
I wanted to be a stage actor but I got stuck on television. It took a couple of years to get used to.
I don't like two-dimensional characters who are obviously villains from the moment they walk on stage.
I don't see why it gives people the right to know about my private life if I don't want to talk about it.
I feel very at home in woodlands and could easily live there. I should have been one of Robin Hood's men.
McQueen is an astonishing film maker. He uses really unusual shots and builds incredible dramatic tension.
I never have liked detective dramas. I try to watch all of them to see what's going on, but I don't like them.
People think I'm thick because of the characters I play. I think I'm brighter than the characters. Well, I hope I am.
I'm the captain of the Variety Club over in England, and so I'm playing golf for them once a week but doing odd bits.
You can't converse with Alzheimer's sufferers in the way you do with others; the dialogue tends to go round in circles.
Before my mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's, I had heard of the disease, but hadn't known anyone who had suffered from it.
When I came down south, I went to one of the early Wigan Challenge Cup victories at Wembley, and I was totally hooked from then.
Mum had regular mental tests with her specialist, but because of her academic background, she became brilliant at manipulating them.
While I'm driving north, I'm already thinking about kippers - it's worth the journey just to have kippers for breakfast on Saturday.
When I get some time off, I like to go back to my roots in the North East. My family have been around Northumberland for five generations.
You get pigeonholed. Some people are film stars, and some are theatre stars who do one-off telly. Somehow, I get into long-running series.
I only really like to watch things like 'Time Team.' I'd rather be out walking the dog. It's all reality TV, which, as an actor, I detest.
I suppose it's a sentimental thing, but I wouldn't want to do more 'Lewis' than we did 'Morse' because I do still think of it as an offshoot.
With all the lines I have to learn for TV scripts, I don't think I have any problems with forgetfulness - that's brain exercise enough for me.
Walking is my main method of relaxation. I don't go over my lines or try to solve the world's problems, I just enjoy the scenery and the wildlife.
I am lucky in that I have never been depressed in my life, but this is the one thing which has really affected me: the loss of my mother as I knew her.
I loved Martin Offiah, Andy Farrell and Shaun Edwards in that Wigan team, and they are still heroes today. They were outstanding players and great to watch.
I love taking the boat to the Farne Islands, a few miles offshore. It has a National Trust bird sanctuary with seals and every sort of seabird you can imagine.
I'm fascinated by politicians, because I suspect the huge majority of them go into it full of ideas and for the best possible reasons but end up being hijacked.
Oxford is a funny place, as it is a mixture of town and gown. You have the students at the main university and at Oxford Brookes, but there is also a big working-class community.
People are very appreciative, and I'm always thrilled at how long the 'Morse' films have lasted. They seem to have an afterlife that goes on and on for decades, which is touching.
Put me on telly, and I think I have a relaxation on camera that makes an audience relax, too. It's not a conscious thing. Cameras don't bother me, whereas other people try to perform to them.
With something like cancer, there is a feeling that you can fight it in some way or control your response to it, but with dementia there is the fear of losing control of your mind and your life.
From the time you are a tiny baby, a parent's love is usually unconditional. Whatever you do, your parents think you are the tops, but when their memory goes, you stop recouping the love you've put in.
I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it. You're aware that if you're nicking all the budget, somebody else is getting threepence ha'penny, or the production values aren't going to be so high.
I still remember going to a smart restaurant in Los Angeles, and the maitre d' knew my name and showed me straight to a table even though we hadn't booked. I get stopped for autographs by people from Sweden on the tops of mountains.