Family holidays and weekends are really brightly colored memories, full of my mother and father, rather than our nannies and au pairs.

My father was king of the guidebooks and our holidays were always planned, taking us from a great gallery to an ace cafe to a beautiful view. And as an actor, I loathe improvisation because there's no structure and no one knows what's going on.

We were all miners in our family. My father was a miner. My mother is a miner. These are miner's hands, but we were all artists, I suppose, really. But I was the first one who had the urge to express myself on paper rather than at the coalface.

The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother's always a Democrat.

Some of my fondest memories are holidays by the seaside.

My husband Rhashan reminds me of my father because he's got great strength of character.