Nobody can prepare you for the loss of a parent.

I've been married to the same man - even after the separation - longer than most people in this business. I'm sick to death of people mentioning it.

Something like 'Sex And The City' was insulting - women all clawing on to their youth when there's such ripe territory in honestly exploring women's lives as they get older.

Agatha Christie holds special personal memories for me because my mum, a television producer called Pat Sandys, had been the first person to persaude the Agatha Christie estate to put one of her stories on TV.

It's one of the oldest theatrical adages: never work with children or animals.

I think that as you get older, you become aware of everything that could go wrong.

I get so nervous before I go on stage that I can never eat very much, so I'm always completely starving afterwards and dying for a bowl of pasta.