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

I don't like being out of the crowd. It's lonely within a group.

I've never done so much bloody crying in my life. I was always moaning about how hard it was when we were shooting, how awful I felt.

Jane Austen was an extraordinary woman; to actually be able to survive as a novelist in those days - unmarried - was just unheard of.

I'm more selective now I've got a family. I don't want to work all the time. My daughter's 12; I don't want to miss out on her life. Soon she'll be a teenager; she won't want me around.

Shakespeare - it's not funny. No matter how they try to make Shakespeare funny, when it's meant to be funny it's not funny.

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.