I can be very difficult if people are not professional, or lazy - or the opposite, which is take themselves too seriously.

I don't take money seriously, so I can't keep any.

It was in India that I started my acting career, courtesy of my parents, long before I set foot on stage in England. They headed a company of travelling players performing Shakespeare up and down the land.

I hope to start enjoying flirting again when I'm 70, like my mother did.

I do still get the odd fan letter about The Good Life, clearly written by somebody aged 18, who says: Will you send a photograph? And I think: Maybe it's kinder not to. I'm deeply into my 50s now.

For me, compatibility is a sense of humour, being able to laugh together; that is very important.

I don't treasure things much - just people. And pets.