FELICITY KENDAL

I think in the acting world you either manage that transition to older roles, or you stick with what you've always done and then discover nobody can bear you doing it as an older person.

I haven't done fillers or Botox for ages. There comes a point where you have to match bits of you with the other bits; otherwise, you get a terribly random situation.

I really do believe there are things passed down. Behaviour, not just DNA. Psychological make-up. You can see it in dogs. If you want to breed a calm dog, don't get two fighters.

From the early days of the Raj, Shakespeare had been woven into the fabric of India's education, and my father understood that in a culture rich with storytelling and fantastical tales, Shakespeare's characters and storylines resonated in a powerful way.

So many roles for women demand that you make the audience fall in love with you or sympathise with you.

As we have more women in power, so the plays and the TV dramas are reflecting what's happening.

I am used to looking good. In a way, if I thought I looked like the back end of a bus, I probably wouldn't have done 'Strictly Come Dancing' and gone out there in public.

I love gentle, gorgeous classical music such as Mozart.

I'm sure people in the business have said: She's too old for that part. I don't hear about it because your agent protects you from those negative things.

I don't think, until you've actually lost somebody you really love, that you can go through that door that allows you to be grown-up.

Every time we moved on, I joined a different class in a different school with different girls until, aged 13, my father had taken the decision to pull me out of school altogether. Everything I needed, he reasoned, could be found within the rich language of Shakespeare's plays at which, by then, I was something of an old hand.

For me, compatibility is a sense of humour, being able to laugh together; that is very important.

I don't take money seriously, so I can't keep any.

It's difficult to say what attracts one person to another. It's always a combination, isn't it? I've always found people interesting because of the way they think, and a sense of humour is irresistible.

I hope to start enjoying flirting again when I'm 70, like my mother did.

We take ourselves so seriously moment by moment, but India shows you a sense of eternity. You're one little ant on a hill. You're part of life, but you're not the whole thing.

It's nice not to have lines when you frown, especially on TV. I don't know why people make such a fuss about it. No one is interested if a woman has her teeth capped or her hair dyed.

I don't think I've ever not had a dark side. But one of the wonderful reasons why you go into this business is that half your life you live in a fantasy, which is somebody else's life. It's actually a great release because you're not having to deal with the itty-bitty bits of life.

I did try fillers once. Don't ever have fillers because when your cheekbones are high, it's chipmunk time.

The gym is where I get my chill-out time. I try to go six days a week, but when I'm working, that goes down to about three.

A lot of my close friends are nothing to do with show business. But the people I've had relationships with, invariably, I've worked with. I think that's probably because I grew up in a family where we all worked together, so it's something I feel comfortable with.

I can be very difficult if people are not professional, or lazy - or the opposite, which is take themselves too seriously.

I'm lucky in that I don't like sweet things at all. My father loved cakes to such a degree that he kept forcing them down my throat when I was little, and it put me off for life. He had terrible cholesterol, poor thing.

There is the most wonderful thing called Polaris: it's a very high frequency laser treatment that lifts and tightens the skin.

I have to say I am a 'Strictly' fan, which is why I am in it. I've always watched it for years. I am not an 'X Factor' fan, and I just think it is a different show. One is about learning something new and having a great time, and the other is rather desperate.