PRUNELLA SCALES

I got a job right out of drama school as assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic. I've been lucky enough to stay in work ever since.

My very first school was a primary school in Surrey. I remember being taught to read by the traditional ABC, instead of look-say - that is, whole words at a time - which was fashionable when my children were at school.

It breaks my heart to hear of our theatres struggling to survive. As well as playing a vital role in community life, they're guardians of our heritage and should be cherished.

I think protecting rural England is more important than any work I do as an actress.

I can't bear it when young actors do too much finger-wagging. It spoils the audience's concentration.

My mother was originally from Yorkshire and I spent a lot of my childhood there.

What is it about royalty - even if you're a confirmed republican - that is dramatically interesting?

John Cleese is a very fast worker and a highly disciplined one.

I can't bear the idea or concept of being a 'celeb.'

I grew up in a household that was very friendly towards the theatre and acting.

In my extreme youth I did a terrifying diet - drinking 40 cups of liquid a day.

Actors go into it because it gives us the chance to play people a great deal more interesting than we are, and to say things infinitely wittier and more intelligent than anything we could think of.

In 1940 my mum took a job as under-matron at her old school, which had been evacuated from Eastbourne to Windermere; I got a bursary and spent eight years as a boarder. It was a smashing education; I regret being at a single-sex school, but I had a brother, so knew what guys were.

I love live theatre, it's always thrilling and exciting.

I feel very grateful for Sybil. 'Fawlty Towers' was very hard to make, but it was very stimulating.

I don't like being recognised. Shopping, I often wear glasses and a scarf.

Gertrude's Secret' is highly entertaining. Some of the monologues are very funny, some very surprising and some painful.

Being out of work is very depressing. But luckily I haven't been there for a long time.

Dad was the generation that fought in both world wars, and people married rather later when they had been in the trenches. My mum was an actress and he saw her in a show in London and they married. She stopped acting when she had babies, which is a shame.

I think local shopping areas and markets are terribly important, both for tradespeople and the local feeling of an area.

Sometimes with good writers you don't spot the theme, but when you come away you realise there has been one.

I don't think theatrical marriages are necessarily less stable than others; I think this is a slight misapprehension.

I always say I want to die on the eighth curtain call. Eight will mean the show's been rather a success.

A good actor just wants to deliver the writing to the audience who've paid that night. There's an agonising desire to get it right.

It isn't often I get a part that enables me to play someone from the age of 13 up to 81.