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.

When you get a bit older and you realise that no one knows what they're doing, no one's perfect and it's fine.

I've read my grandmother's memoirs and she served as a nurse during World War II. What they had to do was incredible.

Ever since I was young, I've read Austen and the Brontes. My friends laugh, but those books are always so tragic and wonderful - those stories, they're just incredible.

I'm really into strong, female roles - but they don't have to necessarily be loud - I'm just as interested in introverts too.

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

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!