These women need to feel that we're all aware of what they may be going through, to give them the confidence to speak out.

You can see when an actor gets bored: Their eyes go dead. I promised myself I'd never let that happen. If it does, I'll go and live on a desert island for a year.

Now learning a bit more about footballers I think what they need to do well, is someone who really wants to stay in the background and just be a strong support.

Being a mother gives you an incredible feeling of empowerment, you think if I can go through such pain and that level of sleep and still operate and not be grumpy you can do anything. It can be quite scary, you can't function your brain, forget your vocabulary.

When I'm working, it's those actors (you know who you are) who sit around moaning that their trailer isn't big enough, or how bad their facilities are. I can't be doing with any of that, I just like to get on with it.

I've been on sets where the turnaround is so fast and the budget so small that the actors have been asked to speed things up and save money by changing in the public toilets. There's no room for vanity at times like that. It's the best way: get on with it!

Onstage, there's no hiding; you either can or can't act. There's no second take.