Rory McCann

“When I get a job, I make phone calls to every single person I know and tell them not to bloody call me.”

“I don't have a mortgage or kids, so I can lie low and tighten my belt if I need to.”

“I have friends who are blacksmiths in the north of Scotland, so I took a few master classes with,them. I loved learning a new skill. I will never look at a piece of wrought iron the same way now. I can now make semi-decent knife blades and candlesticks myself.”

“If I had a long-term partner, I don't think I'd be an actor. It'd be too much of a strain; you have to work too hard to balance that life with a family and a mortgage and all that stuff - it would be too much.”

“I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a wife and I don't have kids, so I'm quite happy bumbling along.”

“I was a bit of a late developer, and everyone was saying, 'Whatever you do, don't shave,' and I hadn't really started shaving. I remember rubbing the soot from a kettle on to my bumfluff to make it look more like I had a beard.”

“I was a lumberjack for years, a pub bouncer, I've sung in a band; in fact, I still sing, and I even trained myself to be a tree surgeon.”

“I'm single because I move about so much that I can't really get attached.”

“What do I know about women? I don't know anything.”

“I am very lucky in that if I don't get a job for six months or a year, I've got other things I can do and am fit enough to still do physical work.”

“My roles aren't huge, but it's a start.”

“I'm a man's man. I go out climbing and live outdoors.”

“Home for me is my boat, really.”

“The thing that I just discovered, which fascinates me really - my name, McCann, the translation isn't 'Son of Ann'... It comes from 'Canis' - as in 'canine' - as in 'dog!' My name - Rory McCann - means Rory Hound, Rory Wolfhound.”

“I'm just about to move to a place that you can only get there by rowing a boat across a loch, which I'm thoroughly looking forward to it. It's not got electricity or anything.”

“I've got to say my mother is the most important woman in my life, and not just because she is a 'Scotsman' reader.”

“I have the will of a flip-flop.”

“I'm on my boat, training, rehearsing; I spend all my energy on the job that's coming up, and I found that's the way that works for me. The more energy you have on set, the better you'll be; it's all about being alive in that moment and listening.”

“In the business I meet some beautiful women, but to be honest, 80 per cent of them are raving lunatics and are to be avoided. It's just insecurity; actors are generally quite insecure. I wouldn't date, or I've never had a fling with an actress, and I'd quite like to keep it that way.”

“I wouldn't say I'm that social... I'm either sailing my boat by myself or living in some small place.”