I'm an old git now, so I would say this, but television was better when there were less channels. There was more concentration and selection in terms of the output.

I've always had a lot of time for servicemen. Yet there's been this bad relationship between civilians and the armed services. We say to soldiers, 'We want you when we want you, but stay away in peacetime. We're proud of you, but keep away from my daughter and don't come drinking in my pub.'

If you have extremes of haves and have-nots where the gap keeps growing, the have-nots group together and create social disorder, as they can't see a way out of their situation.

It only takes around 60 seconds to cast your vote in the polling station. 60 seconds to protect the economy, 60 seconds to protect your jobs, 60 seconds to protect the services your family relies on. A lot is at stake during those 60 seconds.

It's an odd feeling, knowing someone is trying to kill you. On the front line, you learn quickly that if you're in the path of a bullet, you will get hit.

On my travels around the world, I've met people in countries where democracy doesn't exist and if it does, they are intimidated into voting in a certain way.

Some people figure that if they're part of a gang then they have less of a chance of being killed, because they are in larger numbers. But the problem with this is that it will lead to people doing stuff that they wouldn't usually do.

The welfare system was designed to do something different when it was started than what it does now. It was a safety net to help people get back to work: if they were sick, it would help them get back.

There is no such thing as the worst gang because they're all pretty bad. It is very difficult to classify them in terms of who is worse than the other because they all have pretty bad things associated with them.

What's always got me is the fact that when people talked on the telly about Iraq, before Afghanistan kicked off, you'd get only these public-school-type army officers talking about what was going on out there. I kept thinking, 'Why don't we get the true voice of the squaddie? Why don't we hear from the lads on the battlefield?'

When checking in at an airport, no matter how rude the check-in person is to you, always smile and be nice because you don't know what kind of day they've had. You are going on holiday and they're stuck wherever they are. Be nice to them because they can re-route your baggage to wherever they feel like.

A day in Afghanistan is like a week at home.

I always get very fit if I'm going away filming for two months in Afghanistan or wherever.

I do dream about Afghanistan. I wake up and think I'm still there.

I don't think you should go into politics until you can stand on your own two feet economically, if possible, and you know enough about the world.

I have seen incredible bravery from very young guys, the young generation that people write off.

I really enjoy travelling around the world. I get to meet some extraordinary people.

I really hate people who feel their private lives should be paraded, and there are magazines like 'Hello!,' 'OK' and 'Bella' totally devoted to this.

I think we have always had a fascination for gangs and gangsters, and I think we always will.

I would never ever talk about my own personal life in an interview.