I don't see why it gives people the right to know about my private life if I don't want to talk about it.
— Kevin Whately
I read the papers like everybody else, so I don't complain about what they print.
I loved Martin Offiah, Andy Farrell and Shaun Edwards in that Wigan team, and they are still heroes today. They were outstanding players and great to watch.
McQueen is an astonishing film maker. He uses really unusual shots and builds incredible dramatic tension.
In TV, you just have to decide the night before exactly how you're going to say it and stick with that. You can't kick it around; you haven't got time.
Put me on telly, and I think I have a relaxation on camera that makes an audience relax, too. It's not a conscious thing. Cameras don't bother me, whereas other people try to perform to them.
Mum had regular mental tests with her specialist, but because of her academic background, she became brilliant at manipulating them.
When I have time, I really enjoy cooking.
You get pigeonholed. Some people are film stars, and some are theatre stars who do one-off telly. Somehow, I get into long-running series.
I suppose it's a sentimental thing, but I wouldn't want to do more 'Lewis' than we did 'Morse' because I do still think of it as an offshoot.
People are very appreciative, and I'm always thrilled at how long the 'Morse' films have lasted. They seem to have an afterlife that goes on and on for decades, which is touching.
Oxford has a slightly mythical rep, particularly for people who haven't been there.
I'm not very relaxed; I always need to be doing something.
I'm very good at being out of work.
With all the lines I have to learn for TV scripts, I don't think I have any problems with forgetfulness - that's brain exercise enough for me.
From the time you are a tiny baby, a parent's love is usually unconditional. Whatever you do, your parents think you are the tops, but when their memory goes, you stop recouping the love you've put in.
Being a grandparent is whole new phase in your life.
I honestly don't think I sought fame. It wasn't something I courted or wanted, particularly.
The real reason I love Bamburgh is that it's the only place in the world where I ever truly relax.
When I came down south, I went to one of the early Wigan Challenge Cup victories at Wembley, and I was totally hooked from then.
I feel very at home in woodlands and could easily live there. I should have been one of Robin Hood's men.
When you get to the end of a TV series, you feel totally out of sorts as an actor. You feel unfit; your voice box has collapsed on you because you've spent all day muttering into a microphone that's two inches from your head, and you feel desperate to spread your wings and do a bit of real thesping.
You can see some very great theatre actors who don't work at all well on screen. They're trying too hard at it.
I initially thought 'Lewis' was a terrible idea. The character had very much been Morse's work donkey and sounding board. But I was persuaded to do it, thinking if it was a flop, at least ITV would stop asking me. But the pilot took off, so we got back on this moving train, and we've never looked back.
While I'm driving north, I'm already thinking about kippers - it's worth the journey just to have kippers for breakfast on Saturday.
I am lucky in that I have never been depressed in my life, but this is the one thing which has really affected me: the loss of my mother as I knew her.
I hate anything with 'celebrity' in the title, where people are playing to the cameras all the time.
You're very aware in the theater by the response you get, but not so much on television, obviously.
I still remember going to a smart restaurant in Los Angeles, and the maitre d' knew my name and showed me straight to a table even though we hadn't booked. I get stopped for autographs by people from Sweden on the tops of mountains.
It always staggers me when series don't use their sidekicks.
Walking is my main method of relaxation. I don't go over my lines or try to solve the world's problems, I just enjoy the scenery and the wildlife.
Before my mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's, I had heard of the disease, but hadn't known anyone who had suffered from it.
I've been going to Bamburgh for holidays since I was a child.
With your own children, you love them immediately - and with grandchildren, it's exactly the same.
I know actors who court personal publicity because they believe no publicity is bad publicity.
I love taking the boat to the Farne Islands, a few miles offshore. It has a National Trust bird sanctuary with seals and every sort of seabird you can imagine.
Oxford is a funny place, as it is a mixture of town and gown. You have the students at the main university and at Oxford Brookes, but there is also a big working-class community.
I don't like two-dimensional characters who are obviously villains from the moment they walk on stage.
You just suddenly think that there's something quite childish about acting. Basically, it's pretending, isn't it? It's good fun and I enjoy it, but it's a funny way of making a living, particularly when you make a very good wage, as I've been fortunate enough to do.
Let's just say I've never relied on my looks to make a living.
I catch an old 'Morse' on ITV3. I've never thought I looked particularly like my son. He's taller than me and blond. But when I see Lewis walk into a room with John Thaw, it's like my son has just come onto the screen. That's very strange indeed!
When I get some time off, I like to go back to my roots in the North East. My family have been around Northumberland for five generations.
I'm not particularly fond of the past, but I do ramble on about it quite a bit.
I only really like to watch things like 'Time Team.' I'd rather be out walking the dog. It's all reality TV, which, as an actor, I detest.
I'm the captain of the Variety Club over in England, and so I'm playing golf for them once a week but doing odd bits.
Being in Oxford can be a bit like being on holiday - there's plenty of time spent in the pub.
I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it. You're aware that if you're nicking all the budget, somebody else is getting threepence ha'penny, or the production values aren't going to be so high.
My family have been around Northumberland for five generations.
With something like cancer, there is a feeling that you can fight it in some way or control your response to it, but with dementia there is the fear of losing control of your mind and your life.
I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it.
