My parents didn’t take me to the theatre to see Chekhov when I was growing up – we went to see ‘Francie and Josie’ once every five years. – Peter Capaldi
I was initially rather charmed by David Cameron, but I think he’s revealing himself to be a slightly darker and less charismatic figure than he first appeared. There’s a brutality about him. – Peter Capaldi
I’m not terribly well read. My wife forces books into my hands and insists I read them, which I’m grateful to her for. She made me read ‘War and Peace.’ The whole thing. It was amazing, but I had to hide it. You can’t walk round reading ‘War and Peace’ – it’s like you’re in a comedy sketch and you think you’re smart. – Peter Capaldi
Drawing is the only thing I’ve found in which I can lose myself completely. I love it. It started as something that relaxed me, but now it’s a struggle because I’m pushing myself. The day-to-day sketching is fraught. – Peter Capaldi
At 17 years old, STG took me under its wing and shared its resources and wisdom with me, even allowing me to take part in a show at the Edinburgh Festival. Without STG and the Ramshorn Theatre, I would not have found access to the world of drama that I later made my profession. – Peter Capaldi
It was great being brought up in a Glasgow working-class tenement. It wasn’t miserable, and it wasn’t poverty stricken. It felt very safe, full of delights. – Peter Capaldi
I wouldn’t be here if it were not for the grant system that paid for me to go to art school – because my parents couldn’t have afforded it. – Peter Capaldi
It seems to me that most things that are being made are designed for young people. There aren’t that many depictions of melancholic older people, even though they form a growing proportion of the population. – Peter Capaldi
I hate the Internet. It’s full of rubbish. I’m on it all the time, watching terrible, useless things and ossifying my brain. – Peter Capaldi
I lived through a golden period where society felt that it was good to help people who didn’t have a great deal of money fulfil their potential. – Peter Capaldi
The British film industry has always tried to sell itself as something rather sophisticated. It’s almost as if it thinks it is by royal command. It has always tried to claim the high ground, not only over Hollywood but over the whole of humanity! – Peter Capaldi
I got into music, I was in a band, I was at art school. I was quite trendy, although I’d hate to meet myself. The over-preening, the pretentiousness, the arrogance of youth! I think, ‘Oh, that guy was so full of himself.’ – Peter Capaldi
A girl once came to my beery flat in Kensal Green, opened the blinds and cooked me breakfast. I married her. – Peter Capaldi
Nothing compares to being in a room full of politicians screaming abuse at each other all night. It’s hilarious but also a bit terrifying. – Peter Capaldi
In Peter Ackroyd’s book ‘London: The Biography,’ he describes the route of the medieval wall that enclosed the original city. Take the book and follow it from the Tower of London via the Barbican to Ludgate Hill. You experience the real history of London. – Peter Capaldi
If I was to meet my eight-year-old self, I would say, ‘Don’t listen to what they say about you. Wear your anorak with pride!’ – Peter Capaldi
I think the truth is always interesting, but with politicians, you don’t get to see much of that. – Peter Capaldi
I love these sort of documentaries, which you might turn on late on a Saturday night – like, say, ‘The Alma Cogan Story.’ But they are ripe for spoofing, because the presenters are always so serious and anxious to make themselves look like rather attractive and interesting people. – Peter Capaldi
My Italian granny and my mother made great spaghetti, but it wasn’t a kind of southern Italian, Godfather-esque kind of thing – it was a wonderful, big mixing pot of all kinds of people – when you came home from school and your mum wasn’t in, there were lots of people you could go to. – Peter Capaldi
‘Strictly Sinatra’ became a compromise between me and the producers, and neither of us liked the results much. – Peter Capaldi
Being asked to play ‘The Doctor’ is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can’t wait to get started. – Peter Capaldi
If I had gone to drama school, I wouldn’t be sitting here now because it would have blanded me out; it would have just turned me into another actor. – Peter Capaldi
It’s weathered many a storm, but the British film industry is, thankfully, still afloat. – Peter Capaldi
I love people where, at the end of the day, they’ll pick up a paintbrush and paint clouds. They can physically make things. – Peter Capaldi
When I first came to London, I loved hanging around in cafes, smoking, scribbling, dreaming. It was life-affirming and fun. – Peter Capaldi
