I felt my mother about the place. I don't think she haunts me, but I wouldn't put it past her.

Suddenly, you are very much in the present, and you learn it's really the place where you should always live.

I don't want to give up acting - it's what I am.

I think comedy's something you can't learn. It's an instinct, which makes it rather elusive.

There were all us baby boomers who had a grammar school education, started to learn, then went on the pill, the whole thing, and so there are today a lot more women writers, editors, producers, and so a lot more women's stories. God, the BBC's practically run by women.

Along the way I have been able to choose some themes which ask questions - not necessarily force a message on anyone, but at least invite the audience to question things: jury service, dignity in dying, Ireland - and not least because they force me to ask myself questions. Where do I stand?

There were people asking 'Can women be funny?' People still ask that. It's like asking: 'Can women breathe in and out?'