Quotes

I think Breaking Bad (2008) is brilliant. Good drama in the U.S. is also so funny and blurs the line between light and dark.

I didn't really have any aspirations to do TV when I first decided to be an actor.

I did Little Dorrit (2008) a few years ago; I really love doing period dramas. It's stuff like that I really enjoy watching.

Broadchurch (2013) is very different, but it's equally as good as The Killing (2011) - if not better.

I'd rather do my own performance than copy someone else's.

When I was young, my mum was part of a brilliant puppet theatre that toured all over the world.

'The Globe' is one of the most terrifying theatres in London. It's that mob element - everyone packed in and staring up at you.

My dad bought me a guitar when I was very young, and I never looked back.

Monday is great if I can spend it in bed. I'm a man of simple pleasures, really.

I'm endlessly putting myself on tapes for things over in America! I'm always sitting at home, learning lines, sending stuff to America.

I've started collecting taxidermy: I've got a red squirrel, called Steve. I made sure he came with certificates so we know he wasn't just killed for stuffing.

I use music as therapy. Whenever I'm feeling angry or needing some 'me' time, which is quite regularly, I'll go and bang a piano or flesh out something on a guitar.

I go to the Natural History Museum and look at the cage of stuffed starlings there. But my favourite thing is the big blue whale. The scale of it is unbelievable, and makes you feel how insignificant you are as a human being.

I've lost count of how many times I've died. It's become a bit of a running joke but it seems to work. In the world of Doctor Who (2005), people can die and then come back. It's good for a bit of drama and I don't think it's ever been gratuitous. Being shot by a big lizard is a good way to go.