The first time we did cavalry charge I was so breathless with excitement I nearly fell off the horse. I actually saw stars in front of my eyes and thought I was going to faint. The second time I had a bit more control but was still giddy with excitement. And the third time I was an emotional wreck. I had to really try hard not to cry.

I had the privilege of being able to choose, or at least have the opportunity to work at, being anything but an actor.

It does get strange when you realize people will hang around for hours to get a glimpse of you doing scenes outside.

I think anyone who works in medicine has superpowers.

The number of people my age, younger now, a whole generation younger, who are fiercely bright, over-educated, under-employed and who are politicised and purposeless really upsets me. It's soul-destroying.

There's a huge raft of roles that actors in our culture perform, and you can see any one of about three Hamlets in a year. It's not something to be completely daunted by.

The awful lesson of history is that we too often ignore people, just because they're foreigners or different from us.