It's Not Easy To Take A Sit-com

Itv And The Production Company Contacted Me And Asked If I Fancied Playing The Role [of Maigret]. It Took Me A Long Time To Decide To Do It. In Fact, I Decided Not To. I Thought About It For Some Weeks, And Thought 'perhaps Not' And It Went Away For A While, And Then It Sort Of Came Back. They Said 'are You Sure You Don't Want To Play Him?', So I Thought About It For A Lot Longer Again, And Eventually Decided That I Would.

Although The Great Frustration About This [role] Is The Fact That There's One Thing Maigret Never Does, And That's Drive. He's Always Driven, Or He Takes The Train, Or He Gets The Bus. I Was Saying 'well, Why Don't We Ring The Changes For The 21st Century, And Stick Him In The Car?'. [executive Producer And Son Of The Author, John Simenon] Said, 'well, You Can If You Want, But There'll Be Lots Of People Who Won't Like It'. So He's A Non-driver ... But No, Top Gear Was Never A Consideration For Me; And Neither Was I Asked

But I Always Feel That Whatever I Do, I Could Do Better. I Suppose It Is Perfectionism.

I Have Always Believed That There Should Be No Subject About Which One Cannot Make Jokes, Religion Included. Clearly, One Is Always Constricted By Contemporary Mores And Trends Because, After All, What One Seeks Above All Is An Appreciative Audience.

Of Course, Some Would Say If You Have A Performing Inclination, Then You Should Become A Lawyer. That's A Platform We Use, Or A Priest. You Know, Anywhere You Lecture And Pontificate To People.