Growing up in Middlesbrough I was taught to be resilient and competitive. My teachers made us believe that just because kids were at private school up the road, it didn't mean they were better than us.

I remember early in my career people telling me I needed to change my accent, that I needed to sound more professional, more BBC perhaps, but I think if I wasn't from Middlesbrough I wouldn't have done as well as I have.

I always felt I had to prove my intelligence.

There are a lot of women who do a similar job to me who are paid a hell of a lot more... who are a lot posher than me.

Acting with people whom you know is like being with the family. It is a comfortable ground.

The other kids wanted to play Destiny's Child, but I wanted Anita O'Day.

I have admired Jurgen Klopp for a long time because his teams play fantastic football, and he is a fantastic person.

The primary school I attended in Shanghai was a very liberal one, established by scholars who had return from an education in France. The children of leading families were enrolled there, including the son of a well-known man believed to be a top gangster of the underworld!