I think that women just have a primeval instinct to make soup, which they will try to foist on anybody who looks like a likely candidate.

I think a lot of the time you just parody yourself.

The truth is that I'm constitutionally incapable of doing an ordinary job.

I have a very low level of recognition, which is fine by me.

I'm actually about as famous as a fourth division footballer from the 70s.

In the same way, there is some creature gnawing away inside of me, urging me to do things in different ways.

Black Books adheres to a more old fashioned, traditional sitcom format, which I think works, because in its own way, it's quite theatrical.

It's true that I have spoken about doing a book before, but then everyone you speak to is planning to write a book.

I never thought I want to do anything, really, except not go to work properly and turn up at the same place every day and eat sandwiches in the same canteen, if I can possibly help it, as I don't think I'd be very good at it.

I don't really think of myself as an actor.

I don't want to do the same thing over and over again.

I thought The Office was good, though I didn't think of it as a sitcom, just as a very good programme.

If I hadn't done this I might have ended up digging the roads.

One thing that's coming up a lot is: are you as grumpy as you appear from this Black Books thing.

Showing off seemed to me to be a highly valuable and necessary activity when I was 20.

The characters can't be wittier than people are in real life. They have to be character witty.

The trend now is to get away from stage bound sitcoms.

We are both drawn to surreal situations so the writing was a joy.

Yeah, I think Michael has had to deal with that label of being Michael Caine for a long time.

You achieve the surreal jokes through the realism by making it elastic.