I like to accessorise shirts with a little ribbon tied round my collar or a country style ascot. I've also sewed little hearts on some of my sleeves which I've done for years because I always wear my heart on my sleeve so if you see a little embroidered heart on my clothes, that's why!

Performance became part of my art in a way - expressing things and emotion.

I don't mind giving everyone a shock - including myself.

I trained as a ballet dancer - well, I started when I was two and a half, and was serious about it from when I was eight until I was 18.

I filmed 'Albatross' before I got 'Downton.' It's a coming-of-age movie about this girl who leaps into this family's life, like a whirlwind. She's ballsy and brash and wonderful, it was such an amazing character to play.

And it's as you get older that you realize that the things that make you strange are the things that make you who you are. And that's a lovely place to get to.

There's a reason hobble skirts are called hobble skirts. You literally can't move very far in them.