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.

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.

I've always had this sneaking suspicion that I get a kick out of the insecurity.

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.

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.

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

When women's parts are being written, they are more and more for under 30s who are nubile and beautiful. Actresses over 40 are finding very little happening.