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" You normally either get bitten by a character and decide that is the way to play it, and then that begins to inform everything you do, or you decide, 'I don't need to use much character in this - I have basically got to be me'. "

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" Occasionally, there are programmes - like 'The Office' or 'Gavin and Stacey,' perhaps - where you get the feeling everybody's seen it. "

Tim Pigott-Smith

Seen

Feeling

" After 'Jewel In the Crown,' I hardly worked at all for about six months - which came as a bit of a surprise, I have to admit. "

" I seem to get cast as one of two extremes. Either I play the butch heavy or totally nice guys. "

" Perhaps it's an accident of nationality, but the English treasure subtlety and appreciate not having everything spelled out for them, while Americans want everything made apparent. "

" Villains are always the best roles, but that meant that for months afterwards, all I got offered were absolute cads and bounders and really nasty pieces of work, as well as a lot of people who only had one arm. Such is the limited imaginative power, you see, of a great many casting directors. "

" Drama at Bristol was an academic course: you were judged on your A-levels, and there were no auditions. I did a BA General degree. "

" After a West End run, in which I was promoted to Laertes, I joined the RSC in 1972. I had fulfilled my dream. "

" I'm quite sharp but not particularly academic. "

" I can't understand why TV tries to appeal to youth. "

Tim Pigott-Smith

Youth

Understand

" Sometimes I Rollerblade to work, but it's most lovely in the park, and it's really quite safe there. I do it quite carefully, and I wear all the gear. "

" America is very generous, but it's also a bit wacky, you know. "

" When 'Jewel' was screened, old friends from school and university got back in touch. More than one of them told me that their partners hated Merrick so much they could not think of having me in the house. This kind of audience identification does not happen in any other medium. "

" If you can't educate your citizens and you can't keep them healthy, you can't begin to be a society. "

" In England, anybody who was alive remembers an interview between the press and Charles and Diana, right after they became engaged. One of the press asked Charles if he loved her. And he said, 'Oh, well, whatever love means.' Boy, it was a terrible answer. "

" I always remember to go on the Staten Island Ferry because it's the most amazing view of New York. And it's free! You see Ellis Island, and it conjures up something of that great moment: you know, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. It's staggering. "

" Performing King Charles in Mike Bartlett's astonishing play in London and New York has been one of the high points of my career. "

" When I grew up, in the time of 'Look Back in Anger,' the theatre was very exciting, a place where you felt that social comment could lead to social change. "

" Of course there is a danger of typecasting, and since 'Jewel in the Crown' appeared, I have had countless offers to play sadistic policemen and middle-class misfits. "

" When you've won the war, you're faced with the problem of winning the peace. "

" Understand me, Hollywood miniseries are very popular in England. But British miniseries make a tremendous mark on the national consciousness. They become part of the national culture and mythology... at least for a time. "

Tim Pigott-Smith

Hollywood

Understand

" My memory is quite good, except when I'm off stage. "

" As a child, we lived in flats, and I was never allowed pets. "

" The Almeida's artistic director, Rupert Goold, brought me Mike Bartlett's 'King Charles III' with the slightly apologetic warning that it was in blank verse, but, of course, that appealed to me. "

" I've played quite a lot of real people, and it carries a special responsibility. "

" One of the functions of drama is to teach. "

" It's not legally possible to put an image of a member of the royal family on the Tube! "

" I'm not a big fan of the Mediterranean, but being in the Bay of Biscay, the sea is forever changing, and on a clear day, you see as far as Spain. It's incomparable. "

" My first arrival in India was memorable - landing at Delhi airport at 2 A.M. to start filming 'The Jewel in the Crown' in the Eighties. The man who was supposed to pick me up wasn't there, so I spent a very uncomfortable three hours phoning around hotels to find out where I was supposed to be. It was a major culture shock, but I adored India. "

" You can't keep a hero down, can you? "

" I didn't like my first primary school in Leicester very much. As I was going home on my tricycle one day, I said, 'There's no reading, no writing and no arithmetic - it's really boring!' So I was sent to St John the Baptist Church of England Primary. "