I had literally the time of my life, and thought, "Wow. Television doesn't seem to be as crazy as it was when I was a kid." The dream for me was always to be in the movies, you know. But when this came along, I read the first script and I thought, "Oh, my gosh. This is incredible."

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

It's fantastic to strive towards a nice life where you eat nice organic food and your children go to a nice school and you can afford nice clothes and nice perfume and the hypoallergenic make-up. But there's never a day goes by, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, that I don't think about where I'm from.

I believe it is my duty as a performer to raise issues in the world of things we're afraid to look at.

I think there's a very fine line between the type of performing that some actors do, and being in a state in your mind where you actually believe what's going on. If we weren't actors, what would we do with that ability? Would we not be slightly insane? Mentally ill? I don't know.

I was angry but not at God. I feel that you are closer to God when you are messed up. Definitely. That's when you most need God, and God cannot control what man does.

Coming back into television, I was very, very wary about committing to anything that could potentially take a long time. I don't mind movies, but I was nervous of television.