Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I live in dread that I might find myself in some sort of emergency, and everyone will turn to me and expect me to know what the correct procedures are.
We bought a sofa with the money I made from 'Thunderbirds,' and I've still got it, and we call it Thunderbird 1. That's literally all I got out of the job.
When you're working, you're in the present, but you've always got one eye on where your next job might be coming from, and I don't think that will ever go away.
'Unforgotten' was a bit of a no-brainer. I'm a big fan of crime dramas, but often the 'investigation' part goes much too smoothly - and you don't get that with this.
There wasn't really anything I wanted to do other than acting, which is ridiculous because there were no actors in my family, and we didn't know anything about acting.
I have to admit to the occasional need for 'Come Dine with Me.' I am the most atrocious cook, and that's probably why I find it so entertaining. It looks exotic to me.
There are a lot of women - directors, producers, writers - involved in my career. They are all interested in telling good stories, and good stories involve men and women.
It was really unusual that the crews on 'Spooks' were a real mix of men and women, and you'd struggle to see many women with parts that weren't cliched back in the late '90s.
'The Split' is actually really hopeful - although it's left me reeling slightly, thinking about what we do to each other in the name of love, within the contract of marriage.
There's a really sweet spot with acting where you've finished a job, and you've got another one coming up in three or four months' time. That's my favourite period of unemployment.
I would like to think that there are more women in positions of power, to actually get these projects off the ground that are more balanced, where the story is about men and women.
I come from a family of scrap metal dealers, so becoming an actor seemed like a ridiculous thing to do, but I'd found the thing that gave me a kick, and I quickly became obsessed with it.
My whole family were from the East End, but they moved away when I was a child. They still cannot get their heads around the fact that I ran back to London as soon as I could, when I was 21.
I was never told that the purpose of school was to get a job at the end of it. What was pushed on me was a love of learning, probably because my parents didn't have access to a great education.
We lived in so many flats, and the more people you could get, the cheaper the flat was. Someone was always sleeping in the living room, and you're always slightly hiding them when the landlord came round.
'Spooks' was very much of its time and rather unique, so I was more than happy to be in that as a long-runner - because I think we won't have that sort of show again. I think it was really, really unusual.
Once I was asked to do celebrity rowing, where they taught people who had been to Oxford or Cambridge to row against each other. That sounded like too much hard work: really early mornings and having to be quite fit, which I'm not.
Two of my dramas, 'Unforgotten' and 'River,' were airing at the same time, and Dad had read about my 'success' in a newspaper - he thought it was brilliant. I was thinking, 'Does this mean I'm going to be put in a box for a bit now?'
My family moved out of London's East End to a tiny village. The school I went to was supposed to be mixed gender, but there were hardly any boys born that year. So, yes, joining a youth theatre was a fun way to meet the opposite sex!
I've always had a resting expression that either makes me look deep in thought or as though I'm about to fight you. I've lost count of the number of directors asking me what the problem is when all I'm doing is sitting still and being.
Every interview I've done since I've turned 40, the journalist will say, 'So, isn't it amazing? Your career should be over, but you're still working. Why do you think you have found a career at a time when a lot of women are slowing down?'
When you're a kid, you imagine acting to be singing and fighting and like the movies. Then you become an actor and get the reality, which is often a lot more mundane. But sometimes it's really nice to run around with guns saving the world.
High-end divorce is a closed world. When I tried to research it, I was really surprised about how little there is out there. I think that's because of the nature of the subject matter - privacy is incredibly important to this level of client.
I'm a hoarder, but then, when it all gets too much, I turn into a ruthless chucker. I'm very good at clearing out and giving stuff away. But I'm equally skilled at shoving things in a cupboard, shutting the door, and calling that 'cleared up.'
When I bought my first little flat, it was two bedrooms, so I got Sarah Phelps to live with me. My years-later-to-be husband was slightly thinking, 'Why are you inviting your friends to live with you?' I was very resistant to leaving my friends.
I don't really have a treasured possession, but I do love my family's proper old photo album. We all have hundreds of photos on our phones now, but you can't beat the old albums stuffed with black-and-white wedding photographs and 1970s Polaroids.
My two girlfriends from university, Sue Perkins and Sarah Phelps, are both in the business - and are both stupidly busy. We talk on the phone a lot and try to get out to dinner together, but our preferred venue is one of our kitchens with a lot of tea.
My make-up call as Cassie on 'Unforgotten' is 45 minutes, and on 'The Split', it's considerably longer. They have to do your hair and your make-up. On 'Unforgotten,' I'm in and out, and I don't have to worry about how I sit for the whole day so as not to crease the clothes.
I was on a tour of a Restoration comedy in 1996, and in Moscow we stayed at the Metropole hotel, off Red Square. The food there was opulent, but in the Maly theatre canteen, there were just a few pieces of rye bread, peanuts, and gherkins. I stood in the queue and burst into tears.
The generation before me certainly told me that there would come a point when there were fewer parts, telling me to make hay while the sun shone. There was a time in my late thirties when I thought that it was something I had to get myself ready for, that things were going to slow down as I hit 40.
I could never be anyone I've played. I am so not a detective; I can barely get 200 yards from A to B with the help of Google maps, and I am just about the least observant person on the planet, so I never notice what people look like or how they walk or if they're committing a crime in broad daylight.
Before I had my son, I became obsessed by this painting I'd seen in an art gallery. It was a lot of money, but I felt such a rush of adrenaline when I wrote the cheque to buy it. I thought I was going to gaze lovingly at it forever, but after just two weeks, I realised I didn't really like it any more.
I found myself at Cambridge, loved my course, and met these amazing people who got me heavily involved. I presumed I would have to go to drama school, but I did a play with my uni friends, who were doing lots of pub theatre in London, and through that met my agent. She said 'Don't go to drama school. I'll get you a job' and two weeks later she did.