I was never good academically. It was mainly my own fault.

I've been lucky enough to do this fantastic job now for more than 50 years. To make people laugh, to entertain, create a wide range of emotions - it has always been a tremendous thrill for me, and it still is.

People ask me if I am thinking of retiring. Well, it doesn't occur to me. Different day, different challenge, different way. Lovely jubbly.

When you're young, for God's sake, get out and try everything in terms of a career. Or go abroad, meet people.

We were taught fortitude by our parents, who had gone through the war. Being a child then was fun. We could go out and play in the street - there were few cars - and we felt very safe.

You can't make people enjoy what you're doing unless you're enjoying it yourself.

If I want to go out to a restaurant with some friends, I'm more than happy that we go in under the radar, have a little evening on our own.

I'm an actor, and so of course I want to see TV companies making good dramas. I want that to be a priority.

A show like the 'Only Fool and Horses' Christmas special got 24 million viewers, so practically everyone in the country was watching. But of course it's a different world now, with so many channels. And those kind of figures are really difficult to achieve.

I'm a qualified Professional Association of Diving Instructors Divemaster.

After leaving school, I worked as an electrician before becoming an actor.

The first series of 'Open All Hours' came and went without much fanfare because the BBC, in its almighty wisdom, put it out on BBC2, reasoning that it was 'a gentle comedy', better suited to the calms of the second channel than to the noisier, choppier waters of the first.

I was a very shy sort of person, and by acting different characters, I could immerse myself and make them do what, perhaps, I wouldn't do.

I was not driven by fame and fortune.

John Sullivan's scripts were always very funny, and cast and crew got on well.

One of the things I learned was that I really enjoyed stunt-car driving.

I shall act until I drop. I just want to keep doing it and making it fun.

I enjoy the work; I just don't like the glamour side of it. I find that very difficult to handle.

The Christmas of 1965 was a Yuletide with a difference at my parents' tiny terrace house in North London: it was the first time my family had been able to see me on television.

I've been approached to do reality shows, but even though the fees are very, very attractive, I always say no because money should never be your motivation.

I think 'Mrs. Brown's Boys' in particular is very good, though I do find that perhaps the language is a bit strong for a family, but it is very popular, and I think it's very funny.

We get the impression through film and TV that Americans are violent gangsters with guns or upper-middle-class people in romcoms. I really liked the people. They were really warm. They could have been Brits. I mean that in the nicest possible way.

I deliberately decided not to go on Twitter. I've read about how much stress it can cause. I don't think it's healthy.

When you had just three and then four channels, I could always find something that was watchable because the standard of TV was much higher. In those days, they had so much more money to put into so many less programmes.