I work out the other bits, too, but I need to know what I look like, very early on. And then it's like a template; I'll fill that person out. If I get that out of the way, then I'm all right.

My husband was actually very keen that I would become a Bond girl.

I don't think anybody can be told how to act. I think you can give advice. But you have to find your own way through it.

I don`t like reading scripts very much. I like it better for someone to just explain to me what it is about this story.

I felt quite a responsibility when I played Elizabeth I but nobody here remembers her! And then I felt a responsibility when I played Queen Victoria but not many people remember her.

Having a daughter and a grandson, I certainly could relate to the fact that this child, who you simply dote on, being taken away from you at an early age, and every single kind of emotion you would have to go through.

I've got what my ma had, macular degeneration, which you get when you get old.