I love witches and magic and dress-up and make-believe.

No, I can never rely on Tim to make me pretty.

I'm often criticised for what I wear. That's my main label in the press now: disastrous dresser!

People have lots of misconceptions about me. My mum, who is half French and half Spanish, gets outraged when I'm called quintessentially English. I owe my looks to my mum-which was 90 percent of getting my first job. And, some people would argue, 90 percent of my entire career.

I enjoy those small chats you have when people come up and talk to you about your work. It only involves a few seconds of effort to be nice to those people, and I am very grateful for the kind words that people have taken the trouble to express to me in person.

You learn to rely on a few basic movements and use your voice to the greatest extent possible to convey your emotions. So there was a technical challenge there and a responsibility to create a character from behind the mask.

I just went and got an agent because I thought I can create my own world - you can't right your own life, but you can escape to a world where you can have control.