I actually had a cockney accent before I went to drama school. It's softened up a bit.
One of the main things about Cockney is, you speak at twice the speed as Americans. Americans speak very slow.
People say I've 'retained' my Cockney accent. I can do any accent, but I wanted other working-class boys to know that they could become actors.
I don't want to say I'll never play someone with a cockney accent, but I think I would be irritated by me doing it.
I'm a proper Essex girl because my family was part of that great exodus from the East End.
Cor, love a duck. And also Lawks-a-mercy. I said that inwardly, but outwardly I said, "Blimey, and also, what larks.
It's a damn shame we have this immediate ticking off in the mind about how people sound. On the other hand, how many people really want to be operated upon by a surgeon who talks broad cockney?
