Be a vegetarian. That was the best advice I ever took. It means I'm not involved in killing, that's the main thing.

I don't live in London - I'm based in Norfolk and have a place in Scotland.

I worked with Judi Dench in Cranford. She's not at all starry, she's very easy and funny to be around, but I had such an enormous respect and regard for her before I met her that I was quite starstruck.

I tend to get starstruck with sports people. I was on a chat show with retired Scottish footballer Denis Law and I just lost it and couldn't talk to him.

If you travel to the continent you never have any problems overtaking, this is the only country I know where the outside lane is congested and the two inner lanes are empty. It drives me crazy. I'm ashamed that is so typically British.

My very first professional job was with a theatre company in 1965 and the first job they gave me was literally shovelling sh*t. I was an assistant stage manager and they told me to clear out the prop store. I opened it up and no-one had been in there for 25 years and it was inches deep in rat sh*t. So before I could get anywhere I had to clear it up. I thought, 'All these years of training, the best drama school in the world, and this is what I'm doing.'

If I won the lottery,I would love to buy an airfield and populate it with enthusiasts like myself, and old airplanes.