The girl-next-door image is a sort of joke; for years, I couldnt get any roles other than as somebody dark.

The girl-next-door image is a sort of joke; for years, I couldnt get any roles other than as somebody dark.

Every time we moved on, I joined a different class in a different school with different girls until, aged 13, my father had taken the decision to pull me out of school altogether. Everything I needed, he reasoned, could be found within the rich language of Shakespeare's plays at which, by then, I was something of an old hand.

As we have more women in power, so the plays and the TV dramas are reflecting what's happening.

Every woman feels she is too old and has missed the boat.

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.

The gym is where I get my chill-out time. I try to go six days a week, but when I'm working, that goes down to about three.