Mark Gatiss Quotes

When I was your age — about, ooh, a thousand years ago — I loved a good bedtime story. The Three Little Sontarans. The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes. Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday, eh? All the classics.

I imagine John Watson thinks love’s a mystery to me, but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive. When we first met, you told me that a disguise is always a self portrait, how true of you, the combination to your safe – your measurements. But this is far more intimate. This is your heart, and you should never let it rule your head. You could have chosen any random number and walked out of here today with everything you worked for. But you just couldn’t resist it, could you? I’ve always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage. Thank you for the final proof.

I am a gay man who loves James Bond films and snooker - all kinds of working-class pursuits.

They are called 'Emos' now, and before that they were 'Goths.' They didn't have a name for it when I was one, but I was that black-wearing teenager and yes, I wore a little eyeliner.

I always compare reading anything on the Internet to listening at doors. If you don't want to hear anything bad about yourself, you should never do it.

I'm a great believer in the beauty and the power of surprise.

You can always expect tragedy as well as adventure; that's just how it goes.

I think a lot of people who say they are bisexual aren't.

I'm an actor and a writer, that's how I think of myself. Sometimes my time is divided equally, sometimes less equally, but that's what I do.

That's what makes characters interesting. If Sherlock [Holmes] had started out being a straightforward man, we wouldn't be talking about him now. If he became one, that would be interesting. But you have to give him somewhere to go, as [Conan] Doyle did.

It's a cliche, but it's true that all the fun lies in baddies, grotesques and comic roles.

I prefer sneaking in the back door.

If not exactly raging against the dying of the light, I was at least a little cross with it.

Fear is an underrated emotion. And that's why I think it's very dangerous to try and cosset children from it. A healthy scare is as good as as a healthy laugh. In fact, they're two sides of the same coin. There is a desire to shield from the knocks and bumps of reality.

The question I ask myself is: have I really just become a squeamish middle-aged man, or has something happened to the horror genre that shows a growing appetite for watching torture, or at least a desire to explore it on film? And if so, why would that be? I can't pretend I know. I just know I don't like it.

Some facts in life are immutable. One is, trust no-one who uses the word 'trope'.

One man's fish is another man's poisson.

I used to go to the gym regularly and swim an awful lot, but that was when I was unemployed and knew leisure intimately.

Benedict is bumbly, sweet, affable; the nicest man you've met.

I love going to galleries, particularly the National Portrait Gallery.

[Toby Jones] is completely different. It's a completely different character. He's the darkest villain we've had. There was always something charming and engaging about Moriarty. There was something fascinating and actually amoral, rather than immoral, about Charles Augustus Magnussen. This guy is the purest evil. Sherlock [Holmes] is actually appalled by him.

Europe is so much the home of Horror, with its myths of vampires, werewolves, witchcraft and the undead, yet it's like those myths were exported to Hollywood, leaving Europe the room to develop a new tradition as a way of processing its traumas, particularly the two world wars.

I grew up with low self-esteem. I didn't think I was very pretty. I had glasses, red hair and was generally quite a spod.

It was all quite ghastly and I was very fond of it.

My dad was quite a forbidding figure. I realise now that that was mainly because he worked so hard. He wasn't unkind, but he was a presence.

All films speak to their times. It becomes obvious only after.

Sci-fi and fantasy used to be a TV staple throughout my childhood. Then it just stopped dead. It was seen as culty, a minority interest.

We made our Moriarty very different to [Conan] Doyle's. He's Irish, and he brings all his charm, his twinkle and his humor to it while he's also terrifying.

We turned the lights off to save money, so you can't really see it. It's the same show. Hopefully, there are lots of laughs and lots of great personal stuff, but it is explicitly a darker season [4 of Sherlock Holmes].

The thing is, horror is a big part of 'Sherlock Holmes.' Doyle also wrote a lot of great horror stories, so there's a lot more horror in 'Holmes' that people possibly think of. There's a lot of curses and mysticism and real scares.

Slightly forgettable movies can sometimes make great musicals.

Even when I was a child, I always wanted to be older. I realised just in time that it's a mistake and to enjoy my youth while I had it.

All pleasure should be a little bent, don't you think?

I'm terribly nostalgic, but I'm with the Elizabethans who thought nostalgia was a disease. It's a dangerous place to be because you can get caught up in it.

I always wanted to do Restoration comedy. It seems like so much fun.

When I was seven or eight, I was bought a fantastic book called 'The Movie Treasury of Horror Movies' by Alan G. Frank; it became my bible. It's packed full of the most amazing photos and is still fantastic to look at.

I love the Shakespeare history plays, I love the struggle for the crown as a plot.

I had a girlfriend before I ever had a boyfriend, but it was just a phase.

The first film I can remember seeing on TV was 'The Brides of Dracula.' I was instantly hooked.

I don't care what other people think any more about me writing my own parts.

At school I briefly wanted to be a palaeontologist, but I was no good at chemistry and physics.