Under the microscope Interview by YVONNE SWANN
CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS? YES I can. An actor has to be fit. Your mind and body is your tool. I love tennis, running and cycling, but mainly I walk six or seven miles a day.
GET YOUR FIVE A DAY? OH YES. South Indian vegetarian cooking is my favourite food and it contains lots of vegetables, coconut and pulses.
EVER DIETED? I WAS anorexic, but I got past it. You’re probably a recovering anorexic for the rest of your life, but the illness no longer affects me. I eat whatever I want.
ANY VICES? CRISPS! I love them, and salted peanuts and cashews which I roast with soy sauce. I can’t get enough!
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOU? IT WAS hard to watch my other half [theatre and film producer Bill Kenwright], whose business was affected, struggling to find a way forward.
ANY FAMILY AILMENTS? MUM had a stroke in her 30s. She found a way to walk and talk again. And then she had multiple strokes at 68 and passed away. My father lived until his late 80s. He got dementia at the end.
POP ANY PILLS? VITAMIN supplements. I go to a holistic doctor who has a kinesiology machine [a form of alternative therapy] which discerns what vitamins or minerals I may be lacking. I rattle a bit in the mornings.
EVER HAD PLASTIC SURGERY? EVERY now and then I think I’d like a facelift, but the idea of putting myself through an operation which gives your body such a shock seems crazy.
COPE WITH PAIN? WHEN my lower back goes — as it does sometimes — I take a paracetamol.
TRIED ALTERNATIVE REMEDIES? AS WELL as kinesiology, I use homeopathy and have reflexology — and I am myself a practitioner of reiki [a form of hands-on healing]. I even use it to calm and help the horses we rescue through my charity.
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED? I AM lucky. I don’t have the extremes some people have. If I get depressed I give myself a very stern talking to and force myself to get on with things. Best of all is a long walk with my dogs.
HANGOVER CURE? I GAVE up alcohol 15 years ago.
WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT? OPENING night in the theatre.
ANY PHOBIAS? HEIGHTS. I’ll never go on one of those really high roller-coasters.
LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER? NO. I’VE had a wonderful life and I think it is natural to hand over the baton to a new generation.