Quotes from Christopher Eccleston

Television, although It's in steep decline, still occasionally gives voices to people who don't have voices.

I had bags of energy as a kid.

I had to help to coax the performances and I really enjoyed that extra responsibility.

The money is better in films and television. But in terms of acting, theatre is more rewarding.

I want to direct but I think I'd be bloody awful and I don't want to produce but I think I'd be a very good producer because if I believed in something I'd be able to protect it.

The film is about Joe discovering who his mother and father are and his relationship with them, and the identity crisis he goes through once he finds out who his parents are.

Often as a child you see someone with a learning disability or Down's Syndrome and my mum and dad were always very quick to explain exactly what was going on and to be in their own way inclusive and welcoming.

Lots of middle class people are running around pretending to be Cockney.

We like to think that our parents made a decision to bring us into the world.

I think film and television are really a director's medium, whereas theatre is the actor's medium.

I care more about telly because it made me an actor and there's a much more immediate response to TV. You can address the political or cultural fabric of your country.

The person who gives you your first job is so important in any industry.

Theatre is expensive to go to. I certainly felt when I was growing up that theatre wasn't for us. Theatre still has that stigma to it. A lot of people feel intimidated and underrepresented in theatre.

I wasn't always such a great fan of Shakespeare, mind you. I can guess we all at one time had it rammed down our necks at school, which tends to take the edge off it.

I got a tiny part in a play, auditioned for another one and got that as well. Not only that, the first finished on the Saturday and the other started on the Monday which is like an actor's dream!

I love my accent, I thought it was useful in Gone In 60 Seconds because the standard villain is upper class or Cockney. My Northern accent would be an odd clash opposite Nic Cage.

I think the themes of belonging and parentage and love are obviously universal.

We all need a firm sense of identity.

It can be very difficult to trace your birth parents.

I only ever worked on interiors, and an interior is an interior. I don't know what they did about exteriors.

I've never been up with the times, always been slightly out of step.

Many times I've sat with a camera and another actor and seen all their fears and insecurities and struggles. You want to support them and help them as much as you can.

Twelve years on sets watching directors, I've taken a bit from everybody and rejected a lot.

Any horror element is as much psychological as special effects.