'Collateral' poses lots of questions and does it within the format of a really good, tense thriller. It starts at a real pace, and it doesn't let go.
— Nicola Walker
I've only ever been on a long-runner with 'Spooks.'
It's now become a joke in my family that as soon as I finish a job, I'm on a loop saying, 'I'm never going to work again' - it drives everyone mad!
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 was always about working. I like working. I don't like being unemployed. I love acting.
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.
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.
I've got a feisty face.
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.
Roast potatoes - I can't say no. At Christmas, I reach over for the fifth or sixth one, and I think I could keep going until I explode.
Breakfast is a battle. I never feel like eating, but I have now found my way to porridge. I have it with full-fat milk and banana.
As I get older, I get happier.
I get quite fearful about interviews, so I sought advice from other actors.
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.
'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.
If you could make telly as good as radio, it would be amazing - audio can do things so easily that television can't.
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?'
Filming in London is brilliant.
Yes, I go a little bit crazy when I'm not working, which is an issue for me. My background is you go to work; that's what you do.
When I look back at the Nineties, I realise there wasn't very much TV I wanted to do.
You just have to look at me to know what I am feeling. So I would be a useless policewoman or spy.
I'd really like to play Lady Macbeth.
I'd be an absolutely appalling detective... Appalling.
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.
I am very good at keeping secrets, except when I am drunk, when I will tell you absolutely anything.
I'd do anything with Tom Courtenay.
At home, people very rarely recognise me.
Once you've sat in a room annoying Derek Jacobi while he's trying to do his crossword, you're prepped for working with the greats.
'Spooks' was unique. It took up such a lot of your life - I think we did 10 episodes for the first few seasons. That's six months of your life.
'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.
In this industry, people like to look at different faces on their screens - even I do.
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 can't tell you the excitement to be in a new TV series or a play you've got to read for. That's the best.
The confidence and charisma it takes to stand up in front of a group of children absolutely terrifies me.
You can't escape your face.
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.
Derek Jacobi is probably our finest actor.
I'm married to a vegetarian, so if ever we go out to dinner, I go for kidneys.
I am not a morning person.
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.
I just want to carry on doing high-quality work.
