Theatre outings are my favourite thing to spend money on. The most influential play I saw was Bent, which starred Ian McKellen. And I loved the original performance of The Rocky Horror Show, with Richard OBrien and Tim Curry at the Royal Court, when I was about 15.

I keep my own personality in a cupboard under the stairs at home so that no one else can see it or nick it.

I know what it's like to struggle for cash. When I went to drama school, I worked as a chambermaid to make ends meet.

Writing has become my great joy - I simply love it.

I don't read novels whilst I'm writing one; I just haven't got a wide enough brain to concentrate on incoming and outgoing in the same time zone.

What was I thinking? Fact is I wasn't thinking. I didn't want to think. I wanted to feel.

I have had the unfortunate experience of having someone write an unauthorised biography of me. Half of it is lies and the other half is badly written. My feeling is that if I'm going to write my life story, I ought to have my life first.