Quotes

I love writing screenplays for my own pleasure. I've adapted all sorts of plays, including Shakspeare. It is a way of relaxing to me.

I never have any plans, I just sort of wait and see. I do worry sometimes that this could be my last job, but I think most actors feel that way one time or another.

[on working with Trevor Nunn] He was very influential on me because he made no distinction between a musical and a play, and thrives on the notion that he can do Shakespeare one night and a big Broadway show the next with the same cast, who all approach it in the same way.

There's a terrible pressure on you to become a celebrity these days if you want to further your career. That has never really interested me. I'm not a famous actor and that's fine by me if the work keeps coming in. I am very lucky to have had the parts I've had without being in the limelight. To be a celebrity you have to court the paps [paparazzi] and that isn't something I am interested in at all.

For male actors, getting older means you get more interesting parts to play.

Home Fires assembled a large ensemble cast but told its stories from the female perspective in a way that didn't diminish its male characters. What it proved was that a female-driven narrative could routinely draw in audiences of around 6 million in the UK. The entertainment industry has been flooded with concerns that executives don't think this kind of endeavor possible ... Home Fires proved not only that it was possible, but that female-led drama could repeatedly win the audience share.