I don't get offered many comedies.

I get described as 'interesting' a lot. People often call me odd, too. Maybe they mean ugly. Given the services of a plastic surgeon, I would get a pair of cheekbones.

I get described as ‘interesting’ a lot. People often call me odd, too. Maybe they mean ugly. Given the services of a plastic surgeon, I would get a pair of cheekbones.

I was shocked by the reaction I got for Bleak House. It was very intensive but one of the best jobs of my life. It was a chance to play a character that grows and develops and I was very enmeshed in it. But I didn’t realise how stylish it was and how much people would love it.

I come from Beverley in East Yorkshire, and no one there would step outside their front door, or even their back door, on a Saturday night - or any other time, for that matter - unless they were dressed to the nines.

I played crying people in corsets for a long time, but I went into acting to be a character actor.

I'm forever being told that I'm an odd-looking actress, so it's great playing parts where there's no vanity. You just look as rough as you possibly can!

I'm rather a practical person. I just get on and focus on what I have to do. I just don't get sleepless or suffer from the jitters.

Oh, I got totally misquoted saying I can dance like Rihanna. I can't! What I did say is that I enjoy a dance-off with my stepdaughter and her friends.

As a young girl, I was too intent on getting to London and drama school and out of east Yorkshire to think about winning Oscars. I did win a Bafta once, and was so unprepared for it I jabbered on for a minute - a minute too long.