My father Philip was an actor and appeared in everything from 'The Onedin Line' to 'Hedda Gabler' with Dame Diana Rigg.

I have to be careful what I eat before going onstage, to avoid an upset stomach.

Inside my heart, there's a 12-year-old girl who has always wanted to be Ginger Rogers.

If I pop off and do something drastic, everyone's going to realise because they know I'm 50. Anyway, middle-aged women are sensational.

I managed to slip two children out in the middle of my career and have been lucky with all the work.

I'm very shocked when I look at television and I see such an aggressive youth and image obsession in the representation of women on our screens.

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