Andrew Scott

Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that.

The goal is always just trying to stretch yourself as an actor.

I've played all these extreme guys, but playing an everyman type has its own challenges.

I had a really fantastic dialect coach that I worked very well with, and I was constantly surprised by the different intonations that the Russian dialect has.

The kind of actors I admire move through different characters and genres.

Serious acting' is the kind of acting that I don't ever respond to.

Audiences like to be challenged and to be actively involved and try to guess an outcome.

I am a private person; I think that's important if you're an actor. But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person.

It's a thrilling world, and people really like stories about secrets, which is the essence of a spy drama.

Life's too short.

I can totally understand why people say: 'I'm going to do this T.V. series so that I can buy a flat'. But you've got to see what's of value to you as an actor.

It's very difficult to make comedy work; I think it's a very underrated genre.