The middle-aged woman is the ground bed of the audience that watches television, and yet they are absolutely invisible.

If I pop off and do something drastic, everyone's going to realise because they know I'm 50. Anyway, middle-aged women are sensational.

I managed to slip two children out in the middle of my career and have been lucky with all the work.

Agatha Christie holds special personal memories for me because my mum, a television producer called Pat Sandys, had been the first person to persaude the Agatha Christie estate to put one of her stories on T.V.

The bravest thing I've ever done is fly to New York. I'm simply terrified of aeroplanes - I am the woman you see weeping at the airport.

No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.