As soon as I gave birth, it was as if you understand them. They become people, not kids. You start to identify with them. You see yourself in them.

I don't know if you can change things, but it's a drop in the ocean.

Jane Austen was an extraordinary woman; to actually be able to survive as a novelist in those days - unmarried - was just unheard of.

The money isn't a lure. I've done very well out of this business.

The characters do have a life of their own; it's weird.

That's why I'm an actress - escaping into a world.

Suddenly, you are very much in the present, and you learn it's really the place where you should always live.

Stage is the most exciting. Film is lovely, because it's like a family.

I'd love to be in another film, but they haven't asked me. I think it's a shame but the prospects of me doing another one now are remote. Please do campaign on my behalf.

My grandmother lived with us for a short time while I was a child. Old people tend to be slightly more eccentric - they can behave the way they want.

It's very strong after the birth. It's extraordinary. You can't watch anything to do with kids being harmed.

It seems that when you get to a certain age you almost give yourself permission to misbehave and say what you think. People allow it, with very old people.

I'm writing a novel about two actresses who go to New York, because that's what I know about. One has lost touch with reality, disappears and is picked up by a man.

I'm massively talented, and very, very beautiful in person; the public don't really realise that.

I'd like to think there'll be too much of real life going on for me to want to do much acting.