In the same way he’s fascinated by crosswords, the puzzle of solving the murder is what drives him on.

I have to be stretched in some way. There’s not enough things that come my way that I fancy.

The purpose of satire has been rightly stated as to strip off the veneer of comforting illusion and cosy half truth, and our job, as I see it, is to put it back again!

It’s such a performance to bring stuff into America. It’s a great luxury when I am in England.

I think everything I do is my early work. I can’t wait to get on to the later stuff.

A lot of newspapers say, Terence Stamp is playing himself and we’re as bored as he is.

Parts like Morse don’t grow on trees. He’s a great character.

I have to know what would’ve happened if I tried to get into show business. The last thing I was expecting was to have the kind of career I’ve had.

I always go by instinct. I have been a freelance my whole career, and I always go by my instincts, and thus remain responsible for my own decisions.

My favorite film is Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power in The Razor’s Edge.

I think academics are infuriating. For every expert on Shakespeare there is another one to cancel his theory out. It drives you up the wall. I think the greatest form of finding out the truth...

A lot of people only see me as villains.

The writers have built up the Morse and Lewis characters, and their relationship. You’re fascinated how these two men get to the result they get to.

I was very disappointed that so much of the work I did on The Haunted Mansion didn’t arrive in the final cut.

It’s not like you are a rock star and your freedom is infringed upon, but it’s just nice. Especially in the movies when you are working in the dark.

Peter Ustinov was the first really positive influence in my career. He was real and he bore witness to it. The things he said to you, he lived them.

From the age of about five to twelve I was very bad, a hideous little terror who beat people up. I was a member of the Rough Gang – we went around and terrorized all...

A lot of young directors, they’re not confident; they’re not open to the emotional level of the scene.

There is no more final end than death.

I wasn’t at all sure I could make that sort of leap into that sort of comic book reality.

The sport in Scouting is to find the good in every boy and develop it.

Physically, I couldn’t fold myself into a gray, invisible bank clerk. I just thought, It’s the most amazing part. It’s a pity that I’m wrong for it.

Watch the mouth, it reveals what the eyes try to hide.

All actors are incredibly insecure.

We all know that somebody did it, but how did they find the answer?

I work primarily for the camera-it’s not something I really talk about a lot, but it’s part of the way I am as a movie actor. The camera is my girl, as it were.

In Scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed.

To work with a guy like Wyler early in your career was just an incredible thing, because he gave me an amazing amount of confidence.

I feel very proud to have created a character that is so respected. On the other hand, as an actor, I have more freedom now to do other things.

Although you have some films that are a real bummer, there’s always a film that comes up where it’s just heaven.

We were using a hand-held camera to film the scene when Morse collapses. The camera wouldn’t start. Three times they said action and it still wouldn’t work. To this day, they still don’t know what...

I’m still tap dancing. I’m still going.

There is no teaching to compare with example.

Unless I try, I’m never really going to be at ease with myself.

I think Morse’s thing about being a poor policeman but a good detective is a very good description of him.

As a boy I believed I could make myself invisible. I’m not sure that I ever could, but I certainly had the ability to pass unnoticed.

When he’s solved that particular clue, then he’s back to reality and he doesn’t like it. I think that’s why he drinks more than most.

I’ve been doing Tai Chi on and off for 20 years. The fundamentals of all martial arts are the same.

A boy is naturally full of humor.

What I wanted more than anything was a long career.

I think sadly that Morse thinks that he can exist on his own and he only realises at the end that he can’t and never really has been able to. I feel sorry for him.

At this point, it’s either for fun or it’s for money. I don’t take movies that I don’t really like.

You can’t say to someone with a brain like Morse, This is the way you do it, regardless of the circumstances; this is the way it is done.

I’ve never wanted to become a politician, an interior decorator, I’ve never wanted to speculate and make a load of money. I just wanted this.

I love new writing, new blood, modern works by unknown writers.

The very first film I ever saw was during the war. My mother took me, I must have been about 4, and that was Beau Geste, with Gary Cooper.

With our limited funds we can only do a limited campaign.

I was involved in school plays, but when I left school I did a couple of odd jobs as a baker’s apprentice and then as a fruit market porter in Manchester.

From the very first movie I ever made to the current time, there have been times between action and cut when I’ve sensed some kind of new dimension that I haven’t been familiar with before.

Eating people is wrong.