I say, 'Use it or lose it.' I have my own fitness regime, which is centred around stretching, free-weights and fast walking. I also have a trainer half of the year, as I spend my summers in the south of France where I swim a lot.

My mother was a domestic goddess and Mother Earth figure. She was sweet and placid - just what the perfect wife was supposed to be and I was determined not to be.

I can't think of anything I would rather not - rather do than get up and not do anything. I have to do something. Whether it is painting, writing, acting, shopping, going to the gym, being with friends, going out - I just am a very active person. I have a lot of friends and I travel a lot.

I was thinking, who of the English actresses in the last 30 or 40 years have achieved as much as I have?

Hair, in fact, is probably the bane of most women's lives.

I don't believe in dieting.

I don't believe in eating junk and I protect my face all the time from the sun, even in the winter with base and makeup.