The right to ridicule is far more important to society than any right not to be ridiculed because one in my view represents openness - and the other ….

I have always regarded Mr. Bean as a timeless, ageless character, and I would rather he be remembered as a character mostly in his 30s and 40s..

But I always feel that whatever I do, I could do better. I suppose it is perfectionism..

I don't think you should be too absolutist about what you play and what you don't play..

I think I have an inner confidence that my tastes are pretty simple, that what I find funny finds a wide audience. I'm not particularly intellectual ….

I mean I can do it when I'm very relaxed, and with good friends, then I think I can be amusing..

I think you're bound to get a sense of any character that you play. It's not something you often do in comedy..

A law which attempts to say you can criticise and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed..

I like to relish words and sentences, and phraseology, and there's not much facility for that [playing Maigret]..

I can be reasonably funny and light-hearted when I'm in the company of good friends, but I'm not a jokesmith. I tend to be quite serious..

Funny things tend not to happen to me. I am not a natural comic. I need to think about things a lot before I can be even remotely amusing..

It's not easy to take a sit-com and turn it into a feature..

Marketing is what gets you noticed, and that side of it something - this side of it, if you like, doing interviews - is the side of it that I least e….

The character [Maigret] is bound to change and develop, and I wouldn't like to claim that we are perfectly formed straight out of the box. I think it….

[Maigret] is terribly self-contained, not that I would ever wish him to be any more comic, particularly, but in the second film we've made you see he….

The arts community still has a long lasting cynicism of the importance, or the artistic value, of comedy. Comedy is just farting about for money..

It certainly helps, I think, with some actors to understand the process of acting. You see what extraordinary pressure they're under, there's a huge ….

I think in many ways Johnny English is a more believable character..

I'm more critical of the films I make than anyone else..

It is very linear storytelling, and I think that's not so much the fashion. I was watching a new drama the other night which was extremely non-linear….

Lord, thy one-liners are as good as thy tricks. Thou art indeed an all-round family entertainer..