Mark Gatiss

The question I ask myself is: have I really just become a squeamish middle-aged man, or has something happened to the horror genre that shows a growing appetite for watching torture, or at least a desire to explore it on film? And if so, why would that be? I can't pretend I know. I just know I don't like it.

All films speak to their times. It becomes obvious only after.

I'm terribly nostalgic, but I'm with the Elizabethans who thought nostalgia was a disease. It's a dangerous place to be because you can get caught up in it.

Grooming-wise, it is now a constant battle as I progressively turn into my father. I have to keep on top of ear and nose hair - things you never believe will happen to you. Suddenly I have a shaving brush in my ear and I don't know where it's come from, and the more hair I take the out, the more it surges back.

I am a gay man who loves James Bond films and snooker - all kinds of working-class pursuits.

The first film I can remember seeing on TV was 'The Brides of Dracula.' I was instantly hooked.

I used to go to the gym regularly and swim an awful lot, but that was when I was unemployed and knew leisure intimately.

I don't care what other people think any more about me writing my own parts.

Monty Python' is now more recognised by the films than by the TV series.

For some reason, I always get offered plays when I'm doing plays and then, if I stop doing them, people stop asking me.

I love going to galleries, particularly the National Portrait Gallery.

I love the Shakespeare history plays; I love the struggle for the crown as a plot.