I was recently made to feel that it’s my mental health that’s the problem and not the system.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
On Angela's Ashes, Alan Parker said to me, 'You've got the Bafta, just get in the door.' I was walking along the street to go into a shop and he saw me milking it a bit. It was a really good piece of advice.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →I’ll never amount to anything. Who? He was my rival at dance school. It hurt and is something that I’ve always had in the back of my head to defy.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 March 2026 source ↗
A review of Phèdre said – because I was quite large at the time – Toby Stephens’s Hippolytus needs to get on a StairMaster.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗
It happened when I was younger, somewhere outside London. We were on bikes, and this older girl pulled up and said something racist that I won’t repeat. I will never forget that, because it was the first time, and I was like, “Oh, I am feeling different from everyone around me right now”.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗
More from Robert Carlyle
View profile →The worst was as a butcher, aged 17.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
I'd have concentrated a bit more at school and maybe gone to university rather than drama school.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
Becoming an actor at all, considering my background.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
The birth of my first child, July 4 2002.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
All this nonsense in the Middle East. It's hard not to think about it.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
Like safety, that you've got everything covered; no stress, no fear.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2008 source ↗
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 218 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 60 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 35 answers
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