Once Upon a Time‘s Robert Carlyle talks about his favourite episode from season 1, and discusses the Rumpelstiltskin/Belle relationship and Rumpel’s interactions with the Evil Queen in a new interview.

Speaking to the British Once Upon a Time fansite Once Upon a Time Fans, Carlyle reveals his favourite episode, and discusses the RumBelle romance:

My favourite episode has been “Skin Deep.” No big surprises there I would think! I thought it was beautifully written by Jane Espenson and directed with great elegance by Milan Cheylov. I feel that this was the episode when people really began to understand Rumple, and even Gold perhaps to a lesser extent. You sense the loneliness in the characters, that their lives are incomplete. And it was, of course a delight to work with Emilie De Ravin. I thought she was a wonderful Belle and a perfect foil for Rumple. I have been truly blown away by the response to this relationship. I will happily leave it up to the genius that is Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz to decide which way it will go from here.

He also picks his favourite scenes between Rumpelstiltskin and Regina:

I absolutely love working with Lana [Parrilla]. We have very different approaches to the work, but it is always, always interesting and rewarding. And fun too. So many to choose from in season 1, but if I have to pick a couple they would be… the cell scene in episode 2, when we were face to face, up close and dirty! And the fantastic scene, again in a cell, in episode 12, “Skin Deep,” when Gold is forced to reveal that he knows he is Rumpelstiltskin and finally gets back the chipped cup.

Read the full interview at Once Upon a Time Fans.