I have less than no interest in trying to replicate another brilliant actor's work, thank you very much.

In my life, the strongest evidence of any fandom is 'Sherlock' - 'Hobbit' fans are positively restrained.

Although there's an inherent light-heartedness to 'Sherlock,' I slightly err towards not doing the comedy.

I think the hardest part about anything you do for 18 months is just keeping yourself together for 18 months.

What makes Shakespeare eternal is his grasp of psychology. He knew how to nail stuff about us as human beings.

I think the only directing I'd be any good at is theatre directing. It's the only thing I can see myself doing.

I only really watch my own films, I don't watch any other films and I don't particularly like any other actors.

Coming back from doing 'The Hobbit,' you think 'Sherlock' is realistic, but of course, it's not that realistic.

I love that pre-mod jazz look of the late Fifties, the Steve McQueen style that influenced the British modernists.

We all know that people who've never been on a film set think it's way more glamorous than the people who work on them.

This isn't meant to make me sound interesting and rock 'n' roll, but I wouldn't want to live with me a lot of the time.

There is nothing far-fetched about disappointment as a subject for comedy. It's something we are all too familiar with.

Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay and Al Pacino made me want to act. I've always been interested in men with a vulnerable side.

I like the quiet life sometimes. I also love a bustling press conference sometimes as well. I love a 600 metre red carpet.

I can live without endless television programmes and films just centered around computers. I can sort of live without that.

I have played nasty people, but not everyone has seen that stuff. Before 'The Office,' I mainly got cast as little toe-rags.

I'm not particularly affable in real life, I have to tell you. I've got that side to me, of course, but that's not all I am.

It's hard talking about acting, in a way, because it's like explaining a joke: I do think it loses something in the telling.

I don't want to be poor, of course. But I try not to make that the guiding force behind whether I choose to do something or not.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan of things American - but when American people do British stuff, it's so universally dreadful.

The design of 'Love Actually,' the typeface, the basic line of that poster and that DVD cover has been ripped off so many times.

'Sherlock' is one of the biggest things I will do, ever - we could never have predicted that level of insanity around the series.

I don't want to sound like a grumpy old man, but nothing winds me up more than people saying, 'Chill out' to me when I'm irritated!

I'm afraid I don't have a very pragmatic or unromantic view of props. I don't imbue them with any great sense of mystery or anything.

Even someone as truly dark as Lorne Malvo is still very attractive, and you want to spend time with him because he's a fun character.

We can all look on the Internet and go, 'He hates me! Oh, but she loves me. Oh, but he hates me,' you know. And that way, madness lies.

My mum was Labour-voting, but wanted us to know we were important. Basically, everyone's equal, but you, my children, are a bit better.

In London we give ourselves a pat on the back, rightly, for not killing one another, for our prejudice being subtle rather than lethal.

I don't write anything off without reading a script, and if it's a good one, I'll consider it, whether it's for $20 or a million dollars.

Every actor is riddled with insecurity, of course. But weirdly, I don't really find that I'd be daunted with taking on roles or anything.

'The Hobbit' would have been very difficult to pass on, do you know what I mean? It's not the kind of ship that comes into dock very often.

Thank you, people of Emmyland. To be nominated in such company is an honour, especially for two shows that I’m immensely proud of. I’m delighted.

Organised religion, organised anything, requires commitment and requires an engagement with something. A lot of the time, we don't want to commit.

As soon as a job finishes, I am done with it. When I'm really, really enjoying the job, I love the job, I want it to end because it's supposed to.

You could say I'm a mod, but with a small 'm'; I don't wear a parka, but I do question what I wear and what I listen to, which is what it's all about.

I guess like any friendship, marriage, or whatever it is familiarity breeds more contempt, and more love. They're just more settled with each other now.

I've got a stag weekend coming up and I've said I'm not doing anything more than a few drinks. I won't have it. I'll go home and watch Antiques Roadshow.

There's a difference between the parts that I play and who I am and who people think I am. There's quite a big discrepancy sometimes between those things.

I grew up in the suburbs, so I remember arriving at Waterloo and seeing Big Ben and the coloured lights on top of the Southbank Centre and thinking, 'Wow!'

I think when see you a character on the screen who is actually being touched by the world, and the stuff is actually landing on him, it makes you empathize.

I've got no anti-America or anti-Hollywood kick, it's just that I never wanted to go and kick my heels around L.A. for six months hoping something would happen.

I've never been to a festival. I'm a creature of habit, mashed-potato comfort, I like rugs. Our sofa's squishy. Maybe too squishy - it's hard to get up sometimes.

The one thing I've found is that someone always knows more than you do, including your babies. There are loads of things people presume I know about that I don't.

Whenever someone says to my mum: 'How's your son doing?' she says: 'Which one?' If you're a parent, you're not going to go: 'Oh I'll concentrate on the famous one.'

Without sounding overly pompous about it, I don't really trust certainty in anything, actually. Especially as I get older. Except love. I'm certain of love, I guess.

I've always loved Christmas and that's not really gone away from me from being a child to now. It's always a magical time and I'm unashamed in my love for Christmas.

I think people just like seeing friendship. I think people like seeing people who just drive each other up the wall, but at same time, can't live without each other.

Most people have a passive relationship with music and clothes, with culture. But music was my first contact with anything creative. Music is it, as far as I'm concerned.

However happy the director is, I have to be okay with it. I'm pretty strict with myself, about throwing things out or trying to be true to whatever the situation dictates.

I have never been in, nor have I had any strong particular desire to be in, what is termed a costume drama, but I keep forgetting to think of 'Charles II' as a costume drama.

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