Quotes

One of the Sunday newspapers asked me to make my favorite dish, and they photographed me holding it in the kitchen. It was roasted salmon with roasted vegetables. That's not cooking; that's putting things in a pan. It looked quite nice, but I'm not saying it was good.

I inherited my weight problem from my mum. She was always on diets. If there was a box of chocolates in the house, she'd eat half a chocolate, then put the other half back. She loved me, but she did encourage me to diet in my teens.

When I heard I had gotten 'Downton Abbey,' I remember I was standing on a freezing cold street in Manchester where we were shooting the Manchester part of 'West is West.'

When you look back, I think things are as they are meant to be. Timing is very important.

The first role I played was Madame Ranevsky in 'The Cherry Orchard.'

I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since I've been in 'Downton Abbey,' which has made me much more fashion conscious.

I don't have any rules when it comes to clothes. I'll wear anything if it fits and looks good.

I have been invited to do something called 'Celebrity MasterChef' in England, which, of course, I can't do. It's complete nonsense. You have to be a decent cook to begin with. I'd be the joke one.

'Sweeney Todd' is my favorite Sondheim musical.

I took a cookery course. On the examination, I had to cook a cheese omelet with peas and an egg custard. With the egg custard, which was supposed to be a dessert, I forget to put the sugar in, so that's more of a quiche, isn't it?

At the drop of a hat, people will say there are no roles for women after 40. It's there with a bunch of other rules I'm not interested in.

I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.

I've been to the White House and had Hilary Clinton push through the crowd to come and meet me. Chelsea Clinton, too.

I'm very lucky to have a husband who cooks, for a start. It's a good partnership. I met him through a friend, and we just hit it off.

People I've never spoken to before come up to me and give me a hug.

My husband is a martial artist, and he thinks it's hilarious that I have a stage-fighting-proficiency certificate. He thinks that's ridiculous. Can't say I've used it much.

I'm an ambassador for Medical Detection dogs.

The first time I ever got up on a stage, I did a comedy poem. I don't know how I got there in the first place because I was very, very shy.

Visiting a show that's already established can be a bit daunting, as they've been a family already, and you're the newbie.

I guess that is my favorite thing - to make people laugh and also to maybe engage them emotionally and touch them somehow in telling the story.

I never imagined I'd go into acting, but I always loved drama, and when I was 16, I discovered the Library Theatre up the road. So I plucked up courage and asked if I could watch rehearsals. It was like Heaven.

For years, I've felt that there's an inner cook in me just waiting to be unleashed. But I have to confess I'm having an awful lot of trouble finding her in real life.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I'd got 'Downton Abbey' when I was 22.

I wish I could play the piano. I started when I was four and finished when I was five. I got bored. I couldn't tell my left hand from my right back then!

My poor cooking is legendary among my friends.

I know it sounds funny, but every time I have a disaster in the kitchen, it knocks my confidence level a little bit more, and I feel annoyed with myself that I can't do better.

I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.