I'm not a comic person at all. It never reached me in the north of Ireland, in the '60s and '70s growing up. We used to get stupid comics like 'The Topper' and 'The Beezer,' things like that.

I come from theatre and I always go back every couple of years.

No nation can claim, 'We are an uncorrupt nation, therefore we will tell you what the morals of democracy are.'

I'd never really been in a series, where you see a man at different points and perspectives in his life. Usually it's a film, where I'm playing a character who just comes in and offers something up.