People Think Because I Can Make Them

Mr. Bean Is At His Best When He Is Not Using Words, But I Am Equally At Home In Both Verbal And Nonverbal Expression.

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.

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.

The Decision To Do It [play Maigret] Was Related To The Fact That The Character Is A Very Ordinary Man, And Generally Speaking I Haven't Played Very Many Ordinary Men.

It's Not Easy To Take A Sit-com And Turn It Into A Feature.