There was never any career plan. When 'Red Dwarf' started I thought we were doing a curious little sitcom on BBC2, I didn't think I was becoming an actor. I didn't see that 21 years later I'd still be talking about it, let alone filming a new one. For me everything's always been an accident.

I've got wealth and fame but I haven't changed my roots.

I'm busy and that's the way I like it - when I have too much downtime I get into trouble.

My life has been, I suppose, the most incredible series of highs and lows.

I come from a family of servants. My father's father was a servant, and my father's father's father was a slave.

Of course, you would have to be insane to hope your child grows up to be a playwright or poet. Given the odds, you would have to be quite cavalier about your children's future.

Everything a parent chooses to do in their life will forever haunt their kids.

Obviously I ask my family and loved ones for advice here and there, but I kind of have a rule with the people I love that surround me - close family and close friends - that unless I ask for it, I don't really want advice thrown out.