Quotes

[on A Scandal in Belgravia (2012)] I take my clothes off for a minute and a half and everyone suddenly goes, 'Oh great, she's an actress who will take her clothes off. We can't get Kate Winslet. Let's see if Lara Pulver will do a swinger movie.'

[on A Scandal in Belgravia (2012)] It didn't bother me in the slightest and I'm someone who's never done that sort of thing before on stage or screen. It was just a device for her; it wasn't nudity for nudity's sake.

[on A Scandal in Belgravia (2012)] They give you a self-adhesive bra that sticks to you.... [Director] Paul McGuigan very sweetly said to me, 'OK, the choice is we spend hours shooting it to avoid seeing straps or we take all that off and shoot it quickly.' I thought I couldn't put myself through being there all day, practically naked anyway, so I might as well get completely naked and get it done in a few hours.

I'd love to have my own TV show, in the way that Julianna Margulies has The Good Wife (2009), or a lovely ensemble show, like Six Feet Under (2001).

I want to do a big Broadway musical, at some point. I would love to do that. To do something there would be super-cool.

From a very young age, music was very much in my house. I would sit with my mom, with the old LPs, listening to The Beatles and Carly Simon and Lionel Richie. The old LPs used to have the lyrics. From there, I would put on dance and music displays for my family, just to entertain them and make people laugh and smile.

I love my job, and I'm a lucky girl. I thoroughly enjoy going to work.

Martin Freeman is a genius, he really is. He gives you every color of the rainbow in every take and it's wonderful just to play off of him and opposite him.

I like playing off strong actors, whether it's Benedict Cumberbatch or Dominic Cooper. Also I'm a hopeless romantic, so I'm fascinated by relationships.

My father's family are Jewish and my mother converted when they were married. But they separated when I was about 11, so I haven't had my father's Jewish family around me for a long time. I see my grandparents and stuff, but I was a child when I was going to Shabbos with them. So doing what I'm doing now is bringing back lots of memories. And when I look at the characters Miriam and Abe [in the play she appeared in, Beau Jest], I think: 'Oh my God, they could be my grandparents.'