I'm a father eight and I'm married as well - in real life.
— Ashley Walters
Rather than enjoying my success I was stressing about it. Wanting it, but at the same time I couldn't handle the consequences. I was intimidated by people.
I was driving along and I got a random call on my way to my mother in law's for dinner and it was Drake. He wanted to help and he said he'd do anything to get 'Top Boy' back on screens and then got a call from Netflix, who wanted to do the show. For U.K. culture, it's a huge thing.
You're not gonna see me in 'Downton Abbey,' but culture is changing.
My mum was well-travelled, well-educated and made me understand from books, from my imagination and from just taking me away on holiday once a year, wherever she could, that the world was bigger than Peckham.
I was stabbed in the neck when I was 15.
I used to eat under my grandmother's dining room table. I wouldn't eat at the table ever until I was about 10.
Politics isn't about helping people, it's about maintaining whatever people have got, whatever it takes to maintain their position at the expense of us.
Once you've been at the top, you're always gonna know what it's like to be at the top. If you've never been at the top, you're not worrying about what it feels like being there.
With So Solid, we had overnight success and I bought stupid stuff with my money, I bought a 35k car while I was still living in a council flat.
Top Boy' isn't the type of programme that is trying to be righteous and have a happy ending, it is just real.
I stayed well clear of roles like 'Top Boy' for years before I did it, but I had to do it because the script was amazing. It was the most authentic thing that I've ever read when it comes to that sort of life.
The fact that 'Small Island' is 'period' is amazing for me because it's something that I've never been involved with before. Also, half my family is Jamaican and this story is essentially a story about Jamaican people, and it's portraying a part of history that I was not that familiar with myself.
I heard stories about my dad. I wondered why he never protected me. I loved the man and I have still not got over the fact he wasn't there for me.
I don't want to say I'm a role model because I've not been the most clean-cut person, and there were times I could have gone the other way.
There was a long period where every time someone was shot or stabbed the BBC would call me. I started to think, 'I'm an actor and a musician, I don't want to be a politician or a spokesperson.'
I find it hard to network and I have an issue about what people are going to think of me.
I have been saying to my agent and my wife for many, many months that I am going to be James Bond one day. I hope I'm not too 'street' for it.
I had a good three or four months of mad depression where I thought, I'm not doing this any more, it's brought me nothing but problems, I can't take it. My own label didn't want to touch me. A lot of people just shut doors.
But I'm quite liberal as a dad.
It would be beautiful to be able to walk up and down Peckham still, because I love it; it's where I grew up. But it just doesn't work. There are a lot of people who love you but there's jealousy too.
When I was young, I would go to youth clubs after school, run by my teachers and there were places to go where you could talk things out or enjoy sport with kids from different areas so territorial barriers were broken down.
My stepfather's nickname for me was Squarehead.
There was a danger when I was in So Solid and we made '21 Seconds.' But we're just showing a slice of life.
There's always that romantic Hollywood element to it. But people appreciate 'Top Boy' because it is what it is.
In my opinion, gentrification can sometimes affect what's happening on the ends. You're placing people in different places, moving them around, and you're taking them out of their comfort zone and into places they're not used to being in.
I remember at a very early age ringing up record labels I found in the Yellow Pages, and asking them for a record deal.
So Solid was more to me about the camaraderie, the unit between me and the other boys.
I'm not a comedy guy. I don't do comedy shows.
There's a lot of negative things which happen in the show we're not trying to lie about that, that's the beauty of 'Top Boy,' it's unapologetic.
When we think someone is a great dad, what it really means is that we like the way they try.
When it comes to friends, as in people to relax with, that's my wife and my kids.
I find it really, really, really hard to have relationships with other men. That's one of my biggest problems. Women I seem to get on with quite well.
My dad had a real big reputation as being the hard man, street fighter, the gangster. My stepdad was quite timid, and I wanted a bit of the gangster in my life.
It's important for people to listen and take time to watch what's going on in these shows, especially the ones like 'Top Boy' that are painting an accurate picture.
Selling out is a myth. Bill Gates isn't selling out, is he? Richard Branson isn't selling out. Why can't black people make money?
I go away to places in Europe or America and I feel uncomfortable; I can't wait to get home.
I didn't actually rob anyone but once I was kidnapped by two older boys for half a day and they were trying to get me to steal or mug someone.
I had an inkling that I was going to prison before I actually did, because I'd witnessed my father and my elders going through it. It seemed like that's the way that you got respect, which is a sad thing.
I hoard and buy loads of the same things over and over - DVDs, clothes, trainers.
I'm inspired by the fact that for every kid we see committed to crime, there's kids determined to go to uni and not follow their peers.
As a rapper, you're taught and you practice being hard all the time. You're not crying on your tracks, you don't sound like Neyo singing an R&B song about what you've lost or whatever.
Drake and his camp are people of their word. I've never seen them say they're going to do something and not do it.
Music for me, it's pretty annoying, because I've never had a successful solo career and it bugs me.
I gave up acting while I just pursued my music career.
The strength of 'Small Island' is the fact that it deals with heavy issues in a way that is appealing to watch, and it's a story that people can relate to no matter what colour you are.
I never wanted my kids to have the experience of not knowing me or where they came from. I never want them to wonder, 'Did he love me?' I want to be there at the pivotal moments, for them to know how proud I am of who they are becoming.
I have grown up being a father. When my first son was born I was 17. I was a child bringing up a child. I was not capable of understanding what a dad was meant to be.
My whole journey has been televised: the negative and the positive.
I don't have friends, to be honest.
