Mark gatiss

My dad was quite a forbidding figure. I realise now that that was mainly because he worked so hard. He wasn't unkind, but he was a presence.

It's a cliche, but it's true that all the fun lies in baddies, grotesques and comic roles.

For some reason, I always get offered plays when I'm doing plays and then, if I stop doing them, people stop asking me.

Grooming-wise, it is now a constant battle as I progressively turn into my father. I have to keep on top of ear and nose hair - things you never believe will happen to you. Suddenly I have a shaving...

I grew up with low self-esteem. I didn't think I was very pretty. I had glasses, red hair and was generally quite a spod.

I think one of the few faults in Dickens is that mostly his lead characters are blanks - who is David Copperfield, who is Oliver Twist? And yet he takes such joy in populating the rest of his novels...

Fear is an underrated emotion. And that's why I think it's very dangerous to try and cosset children from it. A healthy scare is as good as as a healthy laugh. In fact, they're two sides of the same...

At school I briefly wanted to be a palaeontologist, but I was no good at chemistry and physics.

I'm a great believer in the beauty and the power of surprise.

I had a girlfriend before I ever had a boyfriend, but it was just a phase.