Nobody just flops a complete 'Doc Martin' script on the desk. They all have to be taken apart and all the apologizing taken out. Because it's hard to have a protagonist that doesn't really like anyone and nobody really likes him; it's a hard premise to start from.
An awful lot of people have childhood memories of holidays in Cornwall, and the holidays are old-fashioned and hugely successful. You stick a child and a dog on one of the beaches, and they just light up; they just love it.
In a way, making Martin Ellingham the way he is was a corrective exercise for my acting - to keep a bit still and show a little control. I do like it - it's like having an instrument that you can play and that you can pick up and enjoy playing.
It's so fantastic that Prince William has championed African wildlife. He's putting his back into it - and one thing the royal family is brilliant at is getting people to cough up.
Unlike my mother, who was unashamedly delighted when I decided to become an actor, I always feel that my father, had he lived longer, might have been a touch disapproving of some of my career - I think he might have tutted a bit at 'Men Behaving Badly.'
You do get into a groove, which is great, when you get to act with the same people a lot. Like with Caroline Catz - it's like a duet: you're like a duo jamming together.
They're so generous, the American fans. They send money to the various charities I support. I tried to raise a little bit of money to send to Nepal, and they were straight in with thousands of dollars.
Mum worked as a secretary for Orson Welles for what sounded like a very miserable year. Her brother was the actor Jeremy Brett, who became famous for playing Sherlock Holmes. He was an absolutely lovely man. Very exciting and glamorous, he'd always make me feel amazing and full of confidence, like I'd picked the right thing to do in life.
'Born Free' was the first film I ever saw. I just fell in love with the idea of people having that bond with a wild animal.
