Emma Thompson: Facts of Life

• On her looks: "I don't take myself so seriously any more. And I don't care how I'm judged. I'm past all that."

• On turning down the lead role in Basic Instinct: "As far as I can see, from Sharon Stone's love scene in Basic Instinct, they moulded her body out of tough Plasticine. She was shagging Michael Douglas like a donkey, and not an inch moved. If that had been me, there would have been things flying around hitting me in the eye."

• On appearing at the Fringe: "I've had some of the happiest experiences of my life in Edinburgh. I remember doing a lunchtime show with Hugh (Laurie] called Brown Rice With Everything, and there were times when there were more people in the cast than there were in the audience."

• On battling with depression: "It's the sort of depression that doesn't necessarily make you want to kill yourself, you just don't want to be. You want to switch it all off and stop."