Cooking can cure almost anything..

Othello' was my first Shakespearean discovery. I was obsessed with drama at school, and I studied the play for my English GCSE. Desdemona is the part….

I love cycling, but if I could find a way of building something above the streets for cyclists, that would be amazing. We need even more space..

If Shakespeare was around today I would ask him out to dinner. The only thing I don't like about him is the way he did his hair..

The last time I cried? My godchildren went to see Taylor Swift in concert and got to meet her. They literally ran toward her and hugged her, and it w….

I think the first time I realised Downton Abbey was a hit was when I was sitting in a tea shop in New York and the couple next to me were talking abo….

I come from a very working-class background, so my family would have been downstairs in the past, as opposed to upstairs. People are often quite surp….

Shakespeare and his work will always be relevant. He wrote those pieces hundreds of years ago and we haven't really changed as humans, have we? We ha….

I love discovering tiny streets..

Shakespeare's work is like a good song: you never really forget the main lines..

In the early '20s, with the war over, there was a period of celebration, and you can see it in the fashion..

My mum taught me always to see the funny side of things..

I think the success of 'Downton' is partly because there are effectively 18 leading characters, all given equal importance, so it's enormously involv….

I had dance training from a very young age, 3 or 4... It taught me how to present myself, about preparation and working in an ensemble, and its somet….

'Downton Abbey' has become this huge thing, and I really enjoy the success of it, but I sometimes find myself on the outside looking in, which is sor….

I think some period drama can be quite alienating, but 'Downton' isn't. This is going to sound quite, um, pretentious, but someone said that it's lik….

When I was a child, I went to stage school three times a week in the evenings - singing, ballet, tap, modern and acting, and I loved it..

I really enjoy singing, it's entirely different to acting because I'm just being myself..

I've had moments of thinking maybe I should go on Twitter. It's something that I've been shy about, and I've thought that maybe I should do it..

Being in the same scenes as Maggie Smith and Shirley MacLaine is something I will never forget..

I don't mind wearing a corset; it informs your posture, changes the way you move, you can't slouch..