I'm sure people in the business have said: She's too old for that part. I don't hear about it because your agent protects you from those negative things.

When I was much younger, I sometimes felt rejected by feminists because of an image that I sold because it paid the bills. Any fool could tell my hair is dyed.

When I was little I always thought I was marked out, special, on the verge of something momentous. I used to tingle with anticipation.

The girl-next-door image is a sort of joke; for years, I couldn't get any roles other than as somebody dark.

So many roles for women demand that you make the audience fall in love with you or sympathise with you.

I think you have to relax about aging. What else can you do?

I hope to start enjoying flirting again when I'm 70, like my mother did.

I do still get the odd fan letter about The Good Life, clearly written by somebody aged 18, who says: Will you send a photograph? And I think: Maybe it's kinder not to. I'm deeply into my 50s now.

For me, compatibility is a sense of humour, being able to laugh together; that is very important.

Every woman feels she is too old and has missed the boat.

As we have more women in power, so the plays and the TV dramas are reflecting what's happening.

Success breeds success, and failure leads to a sort of fallow period.