Quotes from Martin Kemp

Saint Tropez and Ibiza were the true essences of early New Romantics.

Sometimes when somebody wants to take the lead it's nice to take a back seat.

Spandau wasn't just about the music; it was about the fashion that went with it too. We were part of the New Romantic movement that happened around the Blitz nightclub in London, and we thought the best way to sell the band to America was to take the whole package to New York.

When I was growing up, a Saturday job was a rite of passage, every kid had one.

When Take That came around my band had just come to an end and I was settling into acting life.

When you're acting, playing the bad guy, you get a chance to open up this box inside and look at all the bad things that you've got in there.

When somebody takes themselves seriously that's fodder for comedy. I think every musician goes through certain periods of their career where they're all guilty of that - Spandau Ballet included.

To be amongst people that know their lines and you're the only person that doesn't is just bizarre.

I won't feel I'm Roman's boss just because I'm his dad. I've never had that relationship with him at all. It wasn't the way we brought him up. We were friends. If Roman did something wrong, I showed that he hurt me rather than telling him off.

Bowie's my hero.

I present, I direct, I act - I do all these things and I live inside this wonderful bubble called entertainment.

If you do something you love doing, it keeps you young and it keeps you healthy. That for me is what success is.

When I grew up in television you couldn't go on a game show without being suited and booted.

I went to a party in Ibiza in 1984 in this house built into the side of a cliff with glass walls. It was the most dramatic thing I'd ever seen. There was a fountain that ran through the house and off the edge of the cliff. If you've ever seen the Peter Sellers film 'The Party,' it was the spitting image of that.

For me it's the funniest show on TV. 'Benidorm' is such old-school, 'Carry On,' panto humour. It's so warm.

I find the older I get - carrying this thing called fame - the more I close myself off. That's what you do.

When I was younger I really challenged the boundaries of fashion, I guess I always have.

Charisma always was the important thing to me.

My wife Shirlie was in Wham! when we met, so we were moving in the same circles.

When you become a parent, you have all these ideas about how you're going to treat your kids as they get older. But as you get to those points it always changes. I actually like the surprises.

I used to struggle a lot with the depiction of violence in 'EastEnders.' I had more meetings with producers about that than anything else. Because it's kind of cartoon violence, and I worry when my little boy watches it.

I remember watching Cilla Black with my mum and dad - I must have been about six years old - and getting off the chair, going over to the TV screen and kissing her. I was sitting with Cilla once and I told her that and she laughed.

I'm so used to being in a drama, or something like that, where you have everything planned out.

Apart from my family, the closest people to me in the world are the guys in the band.