Peter Capaldi
I don't like parties. There was never a party I was at where I didn't wish I was somewhere else.
Being asked to play 'The Doctor' is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can't wait to get started.
Hollywood producers aren't going to say, 'Get me that swearing, grey-haired, headless chicken. We need him for our new 'High School Musical' movie!'
I haven't played Doctor Who since I was 9 on the playground.
Even though I am a lifelong 'Doctor Who' fan, I've not played him since I was nine. I downloaded old scripts and practised those in front of the mirror.
Every viewer who ever turned on 'Doctor Who' has taken him into his heart. He belongs to all of us.
At 17 years old, STG took me under its wing and shared its resources and wisdom with me, even allowing me to take part in a show at the Edinburgh Festival. Without STG and the Ramshorn Theatre, I would not have found access to the world of drama that I later made my profession.
One of the very, very exciting things I have found here in L.A. is that no one talks to you about being Scottish. Whereas, if you are in London and you are trying to put films together and be a film-maker, there is a kind of unspoken sense that, if you are Scottish, you have something to overcome or else you cannot really do that project.
It's weathered many a storm, but the British film industry is, thankfully, still afloat.
I was initially rather charmed by David Cameron, but I think he's revealing himself to be a slightly darker and less charismatic figure than he first appeared. There's a brutality about him.
I think the truth is always interesting, but with politicians, you don't get to see much of that.
I have a fairly normal domestic life.
I got into music, I was in a band, I was at art school. I was quite trendy, although I'd hate to meet myself. The over-preening, the pretentiousness, the arrogance of youth! I think, 'Oh, that guy was so full of himself.'
It's one thing getting the job of Doctor Who, which is wonderful. And then the next thing they say to you is, 'We're going to announce it live on television!' And you think, 'That's not exactly what I thought I was signing up for!'
'Doctor Who' has a certain amount of showbiz attached to it.
One of the problems with episodic television of any color is that everything has got to be okay at the end of the episode so it can start again next week.
'Atlantic City' is very good.
I love these sort of documentaries, which you might turn on late on a Saturday night - like, say, 'The Alma Cogan Story.' But they are ripe for spoofing, because the presenters are always so serious and anxious to make themselves look like rather attractive and interesting people.
I lived through a golden period where society felt that it was good to help people who didn't have a great deal of money fulfil their potential.
I wouldn't be here if it were not for the grant system that paid for me to go to art school - because my parents couldn't have afforded it.
Generally I draw every day just to keep my hand in. I draw while I'm sitting on the Tube or in restaurants. Just doodling things and people I see.
I think all actors experience ups and downs.
There are only a handful of really good TV programmes, and I'm blessed to be in one of them.
The nurses' job is emotional and distressing. Their day-to-day work is dealing with people withering and falling to pieces. So black humour is essential for them cope with that. It's just a consequence of their environment.
I always thought it was funny that my grandparents had bought a ticket to New York and ended up in Glasgow.
Everybody loves monsters.
When I was at school, you couldn't draw and be into football, too. If you were into art, then you were seen as an absolute pansy, and there was no way you'd be admitted to the guys' world of football.
One year was so bad for me and my wife that we were going to have to sell our house until Elaine decided to change career and earn some money.
The British film industry has always tried to sell itself as something rather sophisticated. It's almost as if it thinks it is by royal command. It has always tried to claim the high ground, not only over Hollywood but over the whole of humanity!
I like the constant rise and fall of the British film industry. But above all, I like the workhorses who kept going no matter what.
I suppose I just like being arty. That's all. Arty.
I never really think of acting and directing as being separate; they are just different expressions of the same thing.
When I was acting, I was always asking abut the mechanics of filmmaking. I decided I would learn what everyone on set was doing, so I would feel less threatened.
The biggest thing I have realized was that you have to choose your collaborators very carefully, and that not everybody can like you. The process of filmmaking is so difficult, there's no point in doing it unless you can do it the way you want.
What annoys me about it is that your fate is always in somebody else's hands. It's always up to somebody else to decide whether or not they want you in their show and so the majority of actors have to play out a waiting game. The constant fear is that it could all end tomorrow.
I don't want to find myself at the age of 60 waiting by the telephone for someone else to decide if I am capable of being in what might be a crummy TV production.
I destroyed all my geek stuff because I didn't want to be a geek, and I regret it to this day. Consumed in the geek bonfire of the vanities was a collection of autographs and letters from Peter Cushing, Spike Milligan and Frankie Howerd, the first Doctor Whos, actual astronauts, and many more.
The difference between movies and TV is that in TV you have to have a trauma every week, but that event may not be the biggest event in the characters' lives.
I'm pretty good for an old geek.
A little showbiz never hurt anyone.
I was always admiring people who seemed to conduct themselves with ease in the world. Maybe that's a great gift to give your kids if you can do that. Because they can move through the world without neurosis, this anxiety about everything, which our own parents gave us.
I don't think I would have been great in the 17th century. I would have enjoyed the frocks, and certainly some of the food would have been appealing, but the disease and hygiene would have worried me.
Crime is interesting. It's huge and fascinating, and it's what my business, TV and film, is largely based on. But the realities are tragic, and in crime drama you rarely see the pain of bereavement or any consequences. It's reduced to a chess game.
Recently, I dreamed that I returned home to find my wife had married Ray Winstone. They were kind and let me stay, but the whole thing was awkward.
I can't imagine I'll be the new George Clooney. That's not really on the cards.
I don't mind being stereotyped as angry - it's good to have a job.
If I had gone to drama school, I wouldn't be sitting here now because it would have blanded me out; it would have just turned me into another actor.
When I first came to London, I loved hanging around in cafes, smoking, scribbling, dreaming. It was life-affirming and fun.
I hate restaurants that play music. You come out for a quiet meal, and you're supposed to put up with all this booming. Why? It's madness!