If I want to run around a field when I'm 70, I would like to have that option.

Whatever I'm doing, I try to give it everything.

I like to think I'm a listener, and I'm fascinated by observing people - I suppose you just lock that in.

I have been acting for 32 years now and I feel so lucky to be able to have done exactly what I wanted to do.

I think you know what you're up against when you take on a piece that you know is going to involve dragging up a lot emotions - you can end up being deeply immersed in gloom.

I'd been gearing up to working in theatre since coming out of drama school, but it was an exciting time for TV drama - it was the birth of Channel 4, and Brookside was very cutting-edge at the time.

I couldn't imagine a home without animals.