I've spent all my life playing roles that illustrious people have played before me.
During the war, my mother used to take me to the local repertory theatre on a Monday night, and we used to get two seats for the price of one, for nine pence, in the gods.
A book becomes something else once it's dramatized.
When I was asked to play 'Miss Marple,' I was given the Kevin Elyot script for 'The Body in the Library.' I was a fan of his theatre work anyway, and I just thought it was brilliant. I was immediately taken by 'Miss Marple,' so I read some of the novels, and I knew I had to do it.
I feel I could be walking down the street, and if somebody talked to me, I could just slot into 'Miss Marple' and know how she would react.
People do stop me a lot, and what is really very rewarding is that the ages of the people who stop me vary so widely. Surprisingly, there are a lot of young people - even children.
Quite honestly, I think that if you are making a lot of television programs with a central character, then ultimately it can become boring if you know nothing about them. I personally want to know, or get to know, things about a character. It doesn't mean to say that they still can't have a certain mystery about them.
'Miss Marple' enjoys every minute of her existence and is not worried about getting old.
