I was like one of those nauseatingly nice children. I was very, very well behaved and boring.

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.

Wear what you feel comfortable with. People say nasty things about what I wear in the street. I'm always in worst dressed lists, but you just have to dress for yourself and ­nobody else.

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

I was like one of those nauseatingly nice children. I was very, very well behaved and boring.

I love changing what I look like because I always feel super strange whenever I do watch something that I'm in.

I loved doing all those costume dramas. I didn't think, 'Ooh I've got to avoid being typecast' - you can't ever be dictated to by what other people think. I just do things because I fancy the parts and the directors.