I was really unfit last year, so I worked out for a long time, then spent time by myself in Oregon. For about two months the only person I saw was my trainer. Every day I did a lot of running and I just didn’t want to talk to anyone for two months. So when I started talking again, it was like you would communicate wrongly, like you wouldn’t really remember how to speak. That was one of the key things as well as just reading the book, reading the script a million times, just figuring things out.

You feel quite strangely secure [doing any kind of series]. It's the opposite of how you're supposed to feel doing a movie.

It makes me feel like working non-stop: at least, on sets, the level of security gives me a bit of privacy. It's a relief.

I think that's just a general English attitude [being abusive]. I did the same thing to famous people.

It's supposed to feel totally foreign [to play in a series], every single time. But, going back for another go at it is good, on the one hand, but it's also bad, on another hand, because your ideas dry up sometimes, and also you get lazy sometimes because you're around the same people.

I'm trying to make something every time that feels new and surprises people. Hopefully at least one person. But it's not like I turn it off. I don't make a movie and then go back to my normal life. When I'm finishing one movie the next day I'm thinking about the next one.

As soon as you have someone who's providing stuff to react to, especially working with a baby, it's great.