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.

I tend to opt for relaxed family holidays when I can.

Not a lot of people know this, but I'm very good at mathematics. When I was an angry teenager, I used to sit in my room and do quadratic equations to calm myself down.

Sometimes I'll work through the crossword sections of three separate papers.

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.

If you put people up on pedestals, there's only one way for them to go and that is down.