Someone will always hate what I say. There's always going to be somebody spitting blood about my wooden-faced, toffee-named, crappy acting.

My own grandfathers were a submarine commander and a 'desert rats' tank operator in the Second World War.

'Frankenstein' was all about the idea that, through electricity and the destruction of night, man creating light and darkness, we took on god-like powers and then abused them like gods, and we are only men. That's a story about man making a man in his own image. The inversion of natural order.

We're living through a time where we are fighting wars fostered by politics, admittedly not on the same scale as the First World War, but with equally tragic realities for our soldiers and their families.

I want to be able to play trailer-bound fatties in a Judd Apatow comedy.

I was thrilled with how the first series of 'Sherlock' was received. It was such great fun to film, which makes it so rewarding when something you enjoy is so well received.

If you have an over-preoccupation with perception and trying to please people's expectations, then you can go mad.

Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.

I have actual acting scars.

Lines are very difficult to learn.

I drive a motorbike, so there is the whiff of the grim reaper round every corner, especially in London.

I drag a lot of stuff round with me that I don't need.

I had the privilege of being able to choose, or at least have the opportunity to work at, being anything but an actor.

My mum and dad had worked incredibly hard to afford me an education.

I realised quite early on that, although I wasn't trying to make a career speciality of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.

The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.

We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? Especially if you are an actor.

Being a posh actor in England you cannot escape the class-typing from whatever side you look at it.

I was brought up in a world of privilege.

I've always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.

I'm not loyal to one genre. I want to mix it up.

I've realised now that the reality of children is you have to be in the right place with the right person.

Maybe it's because I was an only child, but I've always wanted kids.

I'm a Prince of Wales Trust ambassador, so I'm all about giving youth an education, a voice and a chance to not take the wrong road.