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.

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.

Theres a difference between solitude and loneliness

When you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything.

It's true I don't tolerate fools but then they don't tolerate me, so I am spiky. Maybe that's why I'm quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.

The last couple of years have been a write-off, though I'm beginning to feel like a person now. My energy is coming back.

The drama school was in Oxford - and it's funny to think of it, but in those days when I started out the University was nearly all male. And they certainly weren't mixed.