Christopher Eccleston

“I got a tiny part in a play, auditioned for another one and got that as well. Not only that, the first finished on the Saturday and the other started on the Monday which is like an actor's dream!”

“It can be very difficult to trace your birth parents.”

“I don't like to watch playback. But being on the set, watching the way the camera is being moved and the way the light is being used, you do get an idea of it.”

“On The Others, very atmospheric and probably mysterious is how I would say it felt to be on the set. It felt just a little uneasy, the atmosphere that we were trying to capture.”

“I care more about telly because it made me an actor and there's a much more immediate response to TV. You can address the political or cultural fabric of your country.”

“I wasn't always such a great fan of Shakespeare, mind you. I can guess we all at one time had it rammed down our necks at school, which tends to take the edge off it.”

“Rather than disliking theatre, I've expressed a preference for television because it tends to deal in its small way much more with issues and is able to reach a broader church of people than theatre.”

“My parents always knew I was hopeless at everything else, I was fortunate in that I was backed all the way. I came to it late and only because I thought there'd be loads of women and drinking!”

“I went being unemployed for three years to being the lead in a British feature in the days when we only made two a year, 1990. It was ridiculous really.”

“Any horror element is as much psychological as special effects.”

“Twelve years on sets watching directors, I've taken a bit from everybody and rejected a lot.”

“I love my accent, I thought it was useful in Gone In 60 Seconds because the standard villain is upper class or Cockney. My Northern accent would be an odd clash opposite Nic Cage.”

“I've never been up with the times, always been slightly out of step.”

“I know exactly where I've come from, I know exactly who my mum and dad are.”

“Theatre is expensive to go to. I certainly felt when I was growing up that theatre wasn't for us. Theatre still has that stigma to it. A lot of people feel intimidated and underrepresented in theatre.”

“We like to think that our parents made a decision to bring us into the world.”

“Television, although It's in steep decline, still occasionally gives voices to people who don't have voices.”

“I think film and television are really a director's medium, whereas theatre is the actor's medium.”

“I think theatre is by far the most rewarding experience for an actor. You get 4 weeks to rehearse your character and then at 7:30 pm you start acting and nobody stops you, acting with your entire soul.”

“What goes down on film is different to what you see with the naked eye.”