Nicola Walker

“Roast potatoes - I can't say no. At Christmas, I reach over for the fifth or sixth one, and I think I could keep going until I explode.”

“When you're working, you're in the present, but you've always got one eye on where your next job might be coming from, and I don't think that will ever go away.”

“'Spooks' was unique. It took up such a lot of your life - I think we did 10 episodes for the first few seasons. That's six months of your life.”

“I noticed that, on 'Spooks,' there were a lot of women behind the camera and in different departments.”

“My whole family were from the East End, but they moved away when I was a child. They still cannot get their heads around the fact that I ran back to London as soon as I could, when I was 21.”

“I wish someone had got hold of me and said, 'You know, children are really good fun. You will have a fantastic time, and you will still work.'”

“I started when I was 21, and it was always about getting the next job - like most actors, that's all it's ever been for me.”

“We're all used to seeing a lot of cop shows, some of them brilliant, some of them very generic.”

“High-end divorce is a closed world. When I tried to research it, I was really surprised about how little there is out there. I think that's because of the nature of the subject matter - privacy is incredibly important to this level of client.”

“I don't really have a treasured possession, but I do love my family's proper old photo album. We all have hundreds of photos on our phones now, but you can't beat the old albums stuffed with black-and-white wedding photographs and 1970s Polaroids.”

“When I look back at the Nineties, I realise there wasn't very much TV I wanted to do.”

“It was really unusual that the crews on 'Spooks' were a real mix of men and women, and you'd struggle to see many women with parts that weren't cliched back in the late '90s.”

“When the acting all dries up, I won't be going there - either to the police force or to the church. I'll have to think of something else!”

“It always makes me laugh to think that I get to sit around and chat with people like Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi and get paid for it.”

“My make-up call as Cassie on 'Unforgotten' is 45 minutes, and on 'The Split', it's considerably longer. They have to do your hair and your make-up. On 'Unforgotten,' I'm in and out, and I don't have to worry about how I sit for the whole day so as not to crease the clothes.”

“'The Split' is actually really hopeful - although it's left me reeling slightly, thinking about what we do to each other in the name of love, within the contract of marriage.”

“Every interview I've done since I've turned 40, the journalist will say, 'So, isn't it amazing? Your career should be over, but you're still working. Why do you think you have found a career at a time when a lot of women are slowing down?'”

“My husband says I'm a grumpy lioness.”

“I've only ever been on a long-runner with 'Spooks.'”

“Yes, I go a little bit crazy when I'm not working, which is an issue for me. My background is you go to work; that's what you do.”