I think being raised by a single mother put me on the outside, and I would watch my mother's married friends and think, 'Why does she put him down in public?' or, 'Why is he so rude to her?' It seemed to me that there were very few marriages where the couple were genuinely in a supportive, loving partnership.

People ask me how I manage without a man in the same tone they might ask someone how they’re doing with just one lung, but it’s not like that at all.

Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, the higher your profile, the more castable you are in TV dramas.

I wear my lines like a soldier wears his medals. They’ve been earned. They’ve been fought for – so there’s no reason to be ashamed of them. In your 50s, you just care less about that sort of thing. I think it’s to do with what’s inside you. You can’t obsess about the outside.

I tried Botox, but I don’t want to be hooked on that stuff.

I ski every three years or so. I don’t have the ingrained confidence that others do, but I’ll happily toddle about a green or blue run.

I’ve never felt the need to be defined by a man.

I didn’t get attached to Botox. It is costly, and you have to remember to keep doing it.

Sadly, the timing’s never been right. There have been men who would have married me but I didn’t feel the same, and vice versa.

I’m pretty good at getting things out of the way, especially paperwork. I hate it sitting about, as it somehow weighs me down.