I was painfully shy as a child.

I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.

I believe anything can happen.

I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.

I guess that is my favorite thing - to make people laugh and also to maybe engage them emotionally and touch them somehow in telling the story.

I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since Ive been in Downton Abbey, which has made me much more fashion conscious.

The first meal my husband ever made me was a chicken curry. I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life.