I tend to head for what's amusing because a lot of things aren't happy. But usually you can find a funny side to practically anything.

I am just surprised to be doing anything at my age actually. When you think of where I am now and where I've come from, I am very pleased and very grateful to be standing up and delivering Julian's great lines.

A lot of writing about being a mother is not so much writing about the kids themselves. They become placeholders for the shift that happens when you're suddenly in charge of other people.

One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, and one's still acting.

Which is strange - I've always thought of myself as someone who writes out of difficulty. And I did do that, but I came out on the side of light more often than not.

An actor is somebody who communicates someone else's words and emotions to an audience. It's not me. It's what writers want me to be.

I like being outside and working with the elements. The elemental aspects of it. The physicality of it.