I took a fortnight off. But I'm not a great believer in breaks. I don't want to be rattling around inside my own head. I did feel I was spiralling into a Kathy Burke character and tried going out, but I prefer it here. Filming keeps me busy. It absorbs me.

Gordon Ramsay makes me laugh because he knows that I'm not a chef.

You could probably get through life without knowing how to roast a chicken, but the question is, would you want to?

And cooking is about balance and harmony.

In England and America people tend to graze all day long, but I think it's such a waste to be constantly picking at food because you then can't enjoy a proper full meal when the time comes.

There is something wrong about being photographed that has nothing to do with vanity.

Then again, they're not scripted and I feel it's virtually impossible to be anything but yourself when you're in front of the cameras and cooking so there is a measure of truth in what you see.