We had a hit list of people we approached, ... We told them some of the ideas we had. Because we spent such a long time writing the scripts for each episode, it would be mad to spend three months on a script for Sam Jackson, send it to him, and he goes, 'Why would I do that?' So we got a preliminary yes out of them, and then went way, wrote the ideas, spoke to them on the phone, sent them the script, and they all said yes.

People see me in the suit and they know I'm not fooling anyone, they know I'm rock and roll through and through.

Because it was couched in realism, I think people recognized things. The more you understand something, I think the more you can enjoy it.

So what if people think 'The Office' is better than 'Extras'? I had to do them in some order.

That's exactly what it did on BBC2. The people that get onto focus groups are force-fed big, broad comedies with laughter tracks and guest appearances. They're not going to like 'The Office' the first time they see it because they're not going to know what they're watching exactly. But if you stick to your vision and auteur it the way you think it should be done, there are enough people in the world that are like-minded and they're going to find it and it's going to be their favorite show.

There's no difference between fame and infamy now. There's a new school of professional famous people that don't do anything. They don't create anything.