I wish I could play the piano. I started when I was four and finished when I was five. I got bored. I couldn't tell my left hand from my right back then!
I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.
Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity I've met as a result of 'Downton Abbey.'
I never imagined I'd go into acting, but I always loved drama, and when I was 16, I discovered the Library Theatre up the road. So I plucked up courage and asked if I could watch rehearsals. It was like Heaven.
I took a cookery course. On the examination, I had to cook a cheese omelet with peas and an egg custard. With the egg custard, which was supposed to be a dessert, I forget to put the sugar in, so that's more of a quiche, isn't it?
For years, I've felt that there's an inner cook in me just waiting to be unleashed. But I have to confess I'm having an awful lot of trouble finding her in real life.
When I heard I had gotten 'Downton Abbey,' I remember I was standing on a freezing cold street in Manchester where we were shooting the Manchester part of 'West is West.'
People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.
I have been invited to do something called 'Celebrity MasterChef' in England, which, of course, I can't do. It's complete nonsense. You have to be a decent cook to begin with. I'd be the joke one.
One of the Sunday newspapers asked me to make my favorite dish, and they photographed me holding it in the kitchen. It was roasted salmon with roasted vegetables. That's not cooking; that's putting things in a pan. It looked quite nice, but I'm not saying it was good.