I think the thing about Anne Boleyn is there is an exotic quality to her. This is a woman who wasn’t raised in the English court. She was in the French court and Hapsburg court. She has a continental exotic quality to her. She’s quite a fiery woman and incredibly intelligent. So I think Anne really stood out – fire and intelligence and boldness – in comparison to the English roses that were flopping around court, she would’ve stood out. And Henry noticed that.

I'm not clever enough to be in machinations and real politics.

I was frequently told at drama school that I was thinking too much.

I think that's the most dangerous kind of sexism: People don't realize it's there and we end up surreptitiously accepting it because it's just part of our culture. I've never experienced explicit, overt, confrontational sexism personally.

It's fascinating how much of our sense of attractiveness and feminine identity is bound up in our hair.

A character on a page has to feel real, and for me the greatest fun is if you could gender-swap the role.

No one thinks that they're a monster. No one thinks that of themselves. Everyone has an earnest belief that it would be better if they were in power.