David Jason
On 'EastEnders' everyone's bitter, angry. Where are the wonderful characters that I lived with, who could find humour even in the lowest form of living?
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.
When I was a lad, my parents and all their equivalents never lusted after other people's riches or success.
When you're young, for God's sake, get out and try everything in terms of a career. Or go abroad, meet people.
My life has been in reverse. It wasn't fame, and it wasn't money, but I always wanted to succeed. The only way I could do that was to try with every job to be better than I was in the last one, and to learn.
In this business, you have to have what they call an idiotic determination to succeed.
People ask me if I am thinking of retiring. Well, it doesn't occur to me. Different day, different challenge, different way. Lovely jubbly.
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.
Missing out on 'Monty Python' was a real blow at the time. I sometimes wonder how things would have been different if I had been invited to join 'Monty Python,' but as the saying goes, one door closes, another opens.
I was never good academically. It was mainly my own fault.
A couple of years ago, I bought my own helicopter, a Robinson R44. I use it occasionally to fly myself to sets where I am filming or to business meetings.
I joined an amateur drama group as a teenager, fell in love with theatre, and it totally changed my life.
'House Of Cards' with Kevin Spacey - I love how it portrays humans in power as just like the rest of us - but even worse.
Miley Cyrus epitomises what we have allowed. She has done it to break the mould. I can understand why, but we have given her the oxygen of publicity and encouraged it, so young girls will think it is the right way to attract men. We've lost our standards.
When you see the kids on 'Britain's Got Talent' or 'The X Factor' who just want to be famous at all costs, you just go, 'God, these people just don't know what it is they're asking for.'
I don't watch 'The X Factor' any more. Why do I want to see someone say the same old thing - it's all they've ever dreamed about - then lose and burst into tears and go into neurosis? They just want to be famous - it doesn't matter how.
Good parts just don't fall off trees. I try to be very careful about what sort of projects I attack. There's an audience out there that expects high standards from me.
I rarely go out, and I am not interested in golf or anything like that.
People tend to feel that if you're a comedian, you can't act.
I do recognise I have a responsibility to the audience. They feel fairly confident that if I'm in something, they can sit down with their family and be entertained by it. I don't desperately want to change that.
I always wanted to fly. When I was in theatre, I used to go up on Dunstable Downs on my day off to watch the gliders, to get away from it all.
All my work's been disguise, really: hiding behind the character.
Despite offers, I have never felt the urge to try to make it in Hollywood.
I always say it is not the arrival; it is the journey.
I will continue to entertain the great British public. Because that is what I love doing.
I won't let my daughter watch 'EastEnders.'
I'm happier being out of the limelight, at home with the family.
I enjoy the work; I just don't like the glamour side of it. I find that very difficult to handle.
We have more and more rules coming out of Europe telling us what to do, and I think people are getting a bit fed up with it. This was supposed to be a common market. I don't remember them ever saying we would be governed by Brussels and become a satellite of Europe.
Classic comedy is classic comedy, and it will go on for years.
My desperation to be on the stage and perform was like a vocation, a religious calling.
One of the reasons that I needed to become an actor was that I didn't have any self-confidence.
I'm really excited to be bringing back 'Open All Hours.' I am sure there is an audience out there who would like to see what Granville has been getting up to in the corner shop.
It has taken a lot of persuasion for me to take part in an official documentary about 'Only Fools and Horses.' But, as time has gone on, it seems to have been imprinted in television history, and I thought it was only right that I tried to give an accurate insight into how the show was put together.
I am thrilled to be taking part in 'Hogfather.' I am a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's books, and to play the part of Albert is going to be great fun.
Some actors retire, and some don't.
I don't think I would ever have taken on professional acting roles if I hadn't had the ability to fly. I had quite low self-esteem, and it gave me the self-confidence to believe I could do anything that I put my mind to.
I never thought I was academically gifted at school. But when I started flying, I found you didn't need an academic mind - you just needed determination and dedication.
I want to encourage young people to get up off the sofa and get out there - as long as you want something hard enough, you can do it.
We seem to have lost our British sense of humour. It's a great shame. We have to be so careful nowadays; we have lost a lot of humour because people are too frightened of getting too near touchy subjects.
What intrigues me is that there are funny people in the real East End. It's famous for it. There'd be blokes dressing up as women as a lark, but 'EastEnders' seems blind to the fact that they enjoy a laugh. There should be a cheery chappy on there.
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.
I wouldn't like to get trapped in a long series.
I hadn't been to drama school. I hadn't been to university and acted there. I had no qualifications behind me.
Ronnie Barker was a man whom I thought more deserving of a knighthood than me.
You wouldn't want me to play Frost in a wheelchair, would you? 'Frost' is getting a little long in the tooth. I still enjoy doing it, and it's a great part, but I just think he's got to retire.
I suppose that I just grew up knowing, in a very vivid way, that if it hadn't been for the men who fought in the Second World War, we'd all be living in a very different world now.
Don't get me started on BBC salaries. We were never the big league. Situation comedy has always been the poor relation in the television entertainment business.
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.