There is this idea that appealing to youth is the only way forward. But that is no longer the case. Youth is not everything. Now we have all the baby-boomers in their 60s, like me, who are actively engaged in life - we're not retiring, we're not just being put out to grass once we hit 60.

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

The way I relax is I think, 'I haven't got anything coming up.' I like to know there are months ahead when I've got nothing.

I'm massively talented, and very, very beautiful in person; the public don't really realise that.

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

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.

Being a mother adds another emotional dimension, a feel for children that I didn't have before I had one. They were a pain before.