Quotes from Kevin Whately

You just suddenly think that there's something quite childish about acting. Basically, it's pretending, isn't it? It's good fun and I enjoy it, but it's a funny way of making a living, particularly when you make a very good wage, as I've been fortunate enough to do.

Before my mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's, I had heard of the disease, but hadn't known anyone who had suffered from it.

I suppose it's a sentimental thing, but I wouldn't want to do more 'Lewis' than we did 'Morse' because I do still think of it as an offshoot.

I'm fascinated by politicians, because I suspect the huge majority of them go into it full of ideas and for the best possible reasons but end up being hijacked.

When I have time, I really enjoy cooking.

I wish people would take more care of the countryside.

I catch an old 'Morse' on ITV3. I've never thought I looked particularly like my son. He's taller than me and blond. But when I see Lewis walk into a room with John Thaw, it's like my son has just come onto the screen. That's very strange indeed!

I never have liked detective dramas. I try to watch all of them to see what's going on, but I don't like them.

Put me on telly, and I think I have a relaxation on camera that makes an audience relax, too. It's not a conscious thing. Cameras don't bother me, whereas other people try to perform to them.

I read the papers like everybody else, so I don't complain about what they print.

I don't see why it gives people the right to know about my private life if I don't want to talk about it.

I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it. You're aware that if you're nicking all the budget, somebody else is getting threepence ha'penny, or the production values aren't going to be so high.

I wanted to be a stage actor but I got stuck on television. It took a couple of years to get used to.

You get pigeonholed. Some people are film stars, and some are theatre stars who do one-off telly. Somehow, I get into long-running series.

You can't converse with Alzheimer's sufferers in the way you do with others; the dialogue tends to go round in circles.

Being in Oxford can be a bit like being on holiday - there's plenty of time spent in the pub.

I know actors who court personal publicity because they believe no publicity is bad publicity.

With all the lines I have to learn for TV scripts, I don't think I have any problems with forgetfulness - that's brain exercise enough for me.

When you get to the end of a TV series, you feel totally out of sorts as an actor. You feel unfit; your voice box has collapsed on you because you've spent all day muttering into a microphone that's two inches from your head, and you feel desperate to spread your wings and do a bit of real thesping.

Mum had regular mental tests with her specialist, but because of her academic background, she became brilliant at manipulating them.

I am lucky in that I have never been depressed in my life, but this is the one thing which has really affected me: the loss of my mother as I knew her.

You're very aware in the theater by the response you get, but not so much on television, obviously.

With something like cancer, there is a feeling that you can fight it in some way or control your response to it, but with dementia there is the fear of losing control of your mind and your life.

I'm not particularly fond of the past, but I do ramble on about it quite a bit.