Brendan Coyle quotes:

I'd seen a play of 'Richard III' in Coventry when I was 15, which sowed the seeds that you could act for a living.

I would have loved to have been a footballer like my great uncle Matt Busby, but I knew quite early on that I wasn't going to make the grade. Luckily I was told by the age of 13 that I wasn't good enough. That's not a bad thing. You see this 'X Factor' generation of kids now who don't accept that they're not good enough.

When I was in my 30s, I was at the end of a long-term relationship and going through a very hard time. I'd had about 15 different addresses and a series of relationships. I thought, 'It's time to have a look at yourself.'

I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation. I see myself as a performer and that applies to a Greek drama or a modern comedy.

I think with Sky and BBC Three and Channel 4, there are some great television platforms, and the stand-up movement in this country is phenomenal. It's like rock n' roll here. Britain's a funny place and there's a lot of funny people coming out of there and a lot of people are finding mediums to express themselves.

I'm single, I'm looking for something meaningful.

I think with Sky and BBC Three and Channel 4, there are some great television platforms, and the stand-up movement in this country is phenomenal. Its like rock n roll here. Britains a funny place and theres a lot of funny people coming out of there and a lot of people are finding mediums to express themselves.

The qualities I am looking for in Miss Right are intelligence and humour.

I see myself as a performer and that applies to a Greek drama or a modern comedy.

Britain's a funny place and there's a lot of funny people coming out of there and a lot of people are finding mediums to express themselves.

I left school at 16 but I wish I'd gone to university - I think I would have studied English literature. I had a knack for that. But I don't think you have the kind of wisdom at 16 to make that decision.

You get a lot of people requesting photographs but I tend to keep myself to myself, pull my cap down.

I'm going to be 50 soon. I'm single, I'm looking for something meaningful. By the time you've been single for quite a long time, you can get quite specific about what you can and can't put up with.

Sometimes I think I missed out on things like travelling. I'd have been terrified of missing an audition. I didn't start a family because that's not something I take lightly. Acting meant so much to me.

I took a gamble in becoming an actor and my dream job has been realised.

I can pretty much say all of us know when 'Downton' is going to end. This is a show with a finite life.

You cant be a casual observer of something humorous - you have to engage, you have to find it funny for the relationship between actor and audience to work.

I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation.

I can pretty much say all of us know when Downton is going to end. This is a show with a finite life.

It's not something that's at the forefront of my mind, but I think I'd regret it if I didn't have children.

You can't be a casual observer of something humorous - you have to engage, you have to find it funny for the relationship between actor and audience to work.

If this TV success had come in my twenties and I'd become a heart-throb, I would have been very stupid. I would have got into a lot of situations that I really wished I hadn't.

I'm more rooted in new plays and new writing.

My dad was a master butcher and I trained to be a butcher when I left school. I didn't enjoy it at the time but I love cooking now, so perhaps I would have been a chef.

I had to escape the destruction of my fathers bankruptcy and all that difficulty.