A few of my favourite things

The Olivier award-winning British actress’s impressive career spans theatre, film and television. She attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and has an honorary doctorate from Birmingham University’s Shakespeare Institute in Stratford. Starring most recently as Adam Kay’s mother in the BBC adaptation of his bestselling book This Is Going To Hurt, the actress also plays Logan Roy’s dysfunctional ex-wife in HBO’S drama Succession and starred alongside Jodie Comer in Killing Eve. She lives with her husband, Guy Paul, in London.

An addiction during Covid lockdowns was Wentworth jigsaw puzzles. They are on the pricey side, but are so beautifully crafted one can understand why. There are witty shapes and misleading tricks hidden in the mix. A friend of mine introduced me to them as she had stacks of them that her mother had collected and was circulating around once she had completed them. I give mine away when I have done them and then order more, or I swap with Wentworthian friends. Puzzles from £9.50 (0800 731 1662; www.wentworthpuzzles.com).

On the same point about feeling the cold, I have an enormous bath tub in which I could possibly drown but for the four magnetic Bette bath cushions that I can place at my feet or elbows, behind my head, under my bum or wherever, to stop me sliding under. I can move them about according to my whims and, once placed in the ideal position, I can keep my head just above the (very hot) water and read for hours. Unfortunately, I can’t travel with the bath, but I can pack the cushions and I always ask for hotel rooms with baths, rather than showers. Bette magnetic bath cushions, £202.80 (www.cphart.co.uk/bette-relax-cushion).

One person’s luxury is another person’s loathing. I happen to feel the cold a lot, so I could not be without a hot-water bottle, even in sunny climes. I needed one in Morocco once. I was staying near the ocean and it was damp and cold at night, so I went to the souk and did a lot of miming— they must have thought I was nuts, but miraculously, they did manage to find one for me.