We were the only black family in an estate with 1,000 white families. Liverpool being quite racist in the Sixties, it was a bit grim growing up.

There was never any career plan. When 'Red Dwarf' started I thought we were doing a curious little sitcom on BBC2, I didn't think I was becoming an actor. I didn't see that 21 years later I'd still be talking about it, let alone filming a new one. For me everything's always been an accident.

Critics called me 'egregious' - I had to look that one up - and 'creepy', but now I don't read them, I weigh them.

It's evolve or die, really, you have to evolve, you have to move on otherwise it just becomes stagnant.

I've been very lucky, this is my 30th year on TV.

The inventory process and stepping back in your life can sometimes be a very dark process. But it also can be extremely funny and surprising.

Prison widens your circle of friends. In my stand-up, I can now talk about things that no one else has the right to touch.

It's not supposed to be easy, if it's easy, it's no good, that's the way I look at it.

British fans are exceptional, but the American fans are something else. Some of them fly 500 miles to stand in line for three hours, just to meet me, then when they do they collapse.

My life has been, I suppose, the most incredible series of highs and lows.