As a society we should be encouraging people out of the debt-culture mindset, not promoting it.

I am always interested in affecting people in some way, making them think about particular areas of history that they have never thought about or that they may have thought about in one way and then changing their view.

I live on the same street as my family, actually. I live across the road. I'm a real family person!

I just feel incredibly lucky. I went to drama school and about 28 of us graduated. I graduated from drama school in 2000, and I would say about two of us are working and able to make a living out of it. It is a tough profession. To have the kind of success I have had is really amazing, and I am incredibly grateful.

What I generally get from being in Africa is a sense of warmth and openness. As a stranger, you are always welcomed into people's homes and people are always offering you food. That generosity is incredibly touching.

I'd like to believe that I would be able to give in the same way Mandela did, but in reality, I don't know whether that is true. It is much more likely that I would be left with an immense sense of injustice and immense desire for revenge.

It's true about the eyes being the window to the soul. Your face can be etched with worry, and twisted by ageing, but the eyes tell the true story of who you are.