Acting has been very useful to me.

I think one wants lots of different lives.

It makes me upset, if not angry, when people assume that there can be no morality without a religious framework. If there’s a moral framework without all that religious stuff, it’s more valuable.

Listening to my regular favourites – Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and so on – I always feel, quite misguidedly, that nothing can be too bad if such beauty and brilliance exists in the world.

I was always very determined, as was my husband, that we wouldn’t let any of our children act when they were young.

I do enjoy fashion – a lot of runway clothes are pretty unwearable, but if moderated, the trends can be worn by just about anyone.

I don’t agree with the whole ‘my mother’s my friend’ approach, because you’re their mum and there has to be a difference between the generations.

I’m a creature of habit, so I like going to boutiques, rather than larger stores, where I know I’ll find something that suits me every time.

People ask what the secret of a happy marriage is. If there is one, it’s ‘don’t talk about it.’

Having done lifestyle books and being an actress, I suppose it made sense to bring the two together. I think that’s what happened.

I learnt basic cookery by watching my mum.

My parents were not theatrical at all.

I’ve never particularly liked the idea of looking back; I’d rather look forward.

I learned basic cookery from my mom, taught myself cake techniques and then got fed up with my own cakes not looking as good as the ones in the shops.

I swim more or less every day.

Spreadable butter is wonderful for cake-making: it’s much easier to cream than the block type and slightly lighter because it’s blended with oil.

I do find modern jazz quite tricky.

I try to be classic without being mumsy.

The things you leave school knowing – some dates and long division – so much of it has been of no use to me. Schools should teach the basics of cookery, first aid, how to...

Thank God I’ve never had the sort of intense fame that means you can’t walk up the road. That sort of blazing stardom must be difficult to cope with and maintain; my career has just...

The rehearsal time is almost my favourite part of being an actress, particularly if you’re working on a play that hasn’t been done before.

Having cakes as a business certainly changes things for me – I don’t now sit at home doing a cake for the fun of it anymore. But it’s an extremely happy and pleasureable business to...

I’m not advocating we should all be back in the kitchen and cooking all the time, because life’s too short and we’ve got more interesting things to do. But to rediscover the intense pleasure of...

We get a lot of overseas people wanting to order cakes.

I enjoy the crafts on the show enormously, too, when we have experts in showing how to make things. You watch them thinking you’ll go home and do the things yourself, which is fun. Some...

My mum taught me that redheads shouldn’t wear pink, red or orange, but if you choose the right shade, such as a bright orange or a cherry red, it can look fabulous.

An actor’s job is about putting across the author’s intention; I don’t think of myself on the same level as a creator.

I look at myself objectively and in a way I see myself as a commodity. Your name becomes somehow outside yourself. Now, when I’m at home being Mrs. Scarfe, that’s when I’m most myself.

There’s also something of an illusion in that, you can perhaps record a TV thing one month and complete a book the next and then be in a play. Then, if they all come out...

I adore food and always have.

Of all the things I do, acting is the thing that grabs most, but there’s another level on which it strikes me as being a little silly. In the end you’re dressing up and deciding...

As a child, I wanted to marry a farmer, but no doubt the reality would have been very different to the idyll in my head.

I know some actresses who used to be older than me who are now younger than me – I don’t know how they do it.

I think all good writing is a struggle. To write as well as you feel you can has to be a struggle, almost by definition, because you could always improve.