Julie Walters

The way I relax is I think, 'I haven't got anything coming up.' I like to know there are months ahead when I've got nothing.

I felt my mother about the place. I don't think she haunts me, but I wouldn't put it past her.

I was always someone who lived in the future all the time, it was always the next thing - dreams of escape.

Sixty felt like a big landmark. Not in a dreadful sense, but none of the other birthdays have bothered me. It's got labels on it - OAP, retirement - and I just wanted to take stock. I wanted to be in my greenhouse at home and at least give myself the opportunity of not working again.

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

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.

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

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

Some of the most interesting questions needing to be asked today can best be asked on television, or on stage, and they can be wonderful, great dramas, but they won't necessarily be blockbusters.

You can't help but feel a little bit like a mother to the younger cast members.

I can understand why people get annoyed at being remembered for one thing, but a lot of actors aren't remembered for anything. I don't mind that.

I don't like being out of the crowd. It's lonely within a group.