What have you recently enjoyed on TV? I haven't had much time to enjoy TV lately. I've been working in the theatre in Filumena at night a filming the new Bond movie during the day. Now I'm off to New York with Amy's View.As Time Goes By/Sundays Radio 2 -- The Oscar nominee for Shakespeare in Love finds Eddie Izzard sexy, wishes she was a tall, willowy blonde, and admits to a history of stage fright.
What are your first memories of TV and radio? My family bought a TV set so we could watch the Queen's Coronation in 1953. I'm a complete radio addict. When I was a child, we used to gather round the set to listen to the Sunday afternoon concert on the old Third Programme.
Who's TV job would you like? Mine. I'd like to be employed again on TV, and we're hoping there will be another series of As Time Goes By.
Who on TV do you find sexy? Eddie Izzard. I'm a huge fan and have seen his stage show twice. Everyone seems to be in love with him...men, women, dogs....I wish there was more of Eddie Izzard on TV.
Who would you like to play you in a film of your life? Billy Connolly. He'd be very good and would certainly get my voice, though I don't think he mimicked me while we were filming Mrs. Brown -- not in my hearing, anyway. He'd have got a good whack.
Can you remember your worst review? My very first, when I played Ophelia to John Neville's Hamlet at the Old Vic in 1957. Richard Findlater wrote: "How dare they give this role in this theatre to an unknown straight from drama school." In a way he was right, it was a huge gamble, but I burst into tears.
What would you most like to change about yourself? I'd like to be taller. I see myself as this tall, willowy blonde in her forties.
Describe yourself in three words. A good laugher.
What's the most hurtful piece of gossip you've read about yourself? A report in The Times that I'd criticised Gwyneth Paltrow for being stand-offish on the set of Shakespeare in Love. It was totally untrue. I think she's exquisite.
What's the best piece of advice you've been given, and by whom? When Peter Hall directed me as Cleopatra at the National Theatre, he said: "Don't think you've got to play all of her in one scene -- play aspects of her in each scene." It's great advice for any role.
If you win your Oscar for best supporting actress in Shakespeare in Love where will you put it? Please, let us not tempt providence. I'm not looking that far ahead. But I don't put awards in one particular place.
Who are you taking to the Oscars? Michael (husband Michael Williams) and our daughter Finty.
What was your most embarrassing moment in the theatre? I've fallen over in nearly every production I've done --sheer fright, I suspect. And I "dried" on the first night of Filumena and reeled off a list of pasta instead of Italian place names.
Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions? I've never had any ambitions, but I'd like to go on working, being different things.
Are there any queens left whom you'd like to play? Boadicea would be pretty boring and I'm too old for Mary Queen of Scots.
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps? If you want to do any other job in the world, don't act. And if you don't have a lot of energy, certainly don't act. It's the advice we gave to Finty.
What's the strangest thing you've been sent by a fan? One of those glass balls that makes a snow storm when you shake it. It has a piano in it and plays Send in the Clowns.
Where would you like to spend the millennium eve? Where I'm going to spend it on the west coast of Scotland with the people I love most, friends and family.