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I've been going to Bamburgh for holidays since I was a child.
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I honestly don't think I sought fame. It wasn't something I courted or wanted, particularly.
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You just suddenly think that there's something quite childish about acting. Basically, it's pretending, isn't it? It's good fun and I enjoy it, but it's a funny way of making a living, particularly when you make a very good wage, as I've been fortunate enough to do.
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Dementia is often regarded as an embarrassing condition that should be hushed up and not spoken about. But I feel passionately that more needs to be done to raise awareness, which is why I became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society.
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I hate anything with 'celebrity' in the title, where people are playing to the cameras all the time.
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Let's just say I've never relied on my looks to make a living.
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Put me on telly, and I think I have a relaxation on camera that makes an audience relax, too. It's not a conscious thing. Cameras don't bother me, whereas other people try to perform to them.
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Mum had regular mental tests with her specialist, but because of her academic background, she became brilliant at manipulating them.
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I am lucky in that I have never been depressed in my life, but this is the one thing which has really affected me: the loss of my mother as I knew her.
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Oxford has a slightly mythical rep, particularly for people who haven't been there.
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I wish people would take more care of the countryside.
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I'm not very relaxed; I always need to be doing something.
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I'm the captain of the Variety Club over in England, and so I'm playing golf for them once a week but doing odd bits.
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In TV, you just have to decide the night before exactly how you're going to say it and stick with that. You can't kick it around; you haven't got time.
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McQueen is an astonishing film maker. He uses really unusual shots and builds incredible dramatic tension.
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From the time you are a tiny baby, a parent's love is usually unconditional. Whatever you do, your parents think you are the tops, but when their memory goes, you stop recouping the love you've put in.
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I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it. You're aware that if you're nicking all the budget, somebody else is getting threepence ha'penny, or the production values aren't going to be so high.
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I wanted to be a stage actor but I got stuck on television. It took a couple of years to get used to.
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Being a grandparent is whole new phase in your life.
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My family have been around Northumberland for five generations.
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You can't converse with Alzheimer's sufferers in the way you do with others; the dialogue tends to go round in circles.
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I love taking the boat to the Farne Islands, a few miles offshore. It has a National Trust bird sanctuary with seals and every sort of seabird you can imagine.
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Walking is my main method of relaxation. I don't go over my lines or try to solve the world's problems, I just enjoy the scenery and the wildlife.
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I know actors who court personal publicity because they believe no publicity is bad publicity.