I think some period drama can be quite alienating, but 'Downton' isn't. This is going to sound quite, um, pretentious, but someone said that it's like a soap written by a poet.

I love discovering tiny streets.

For years, I was often afraid to speak up when I didn't fully understand a script. I'd tie myself in knots.

I really enjoy singing, it's entirely different to acting because I'm just being myself.

I think the success of 'Downton' is partly because there are effectively 18 leading characters, all given equal importance, so it's enormously involving on many levels. But also, it's a new story. It's not like Dickens or Austen, where everyone knows the denouement.

I love cycling, but if I could find a way of building something above the streets for cyclists, that would be amazing. We need even more space.

I come from a very working-class background, so my family would have been downstairs in the past, as opposed to upstairs. People are often quite surprised to hear that, that I'm not actually posh.