People ask me how I manage without a man in the same tone they might ask someone how they're doing with just one lung, but it's not like that at all.

At the beginning of my acting career, I worked for two seasons at the RSC and spent a lot of time in the Cotswolds exploring Shakespeare's countryside. It's my kind of English landscape, with its tiny villages and one-room thatched pubs.

War is good for absolutely nothing, because no matter how far and wide apart we may live, we're all the same under the skin. We all want to live, laugh and love.

I have that precious commodity - freedom. I can live my life a day at a time, and I am open to whatever the next day brings. I know I sound as if I have been off with some guru in India, but I haven't. I've come to realise the value of being able to decide for oneself.

I'd like to break some new ground, maybe in TV presenting, rather than just be an actress.

Sadly, the timing's never been right. There have been men who would have married me but I didn't feel the same, and vice versa.

To keep my back from getting stiff, I have a strict regime every morning of stretching and do yoga once a week and Pilates. 'Strictly Come Dancing' in 2008 was great for my fitness.