“I love being as bad as possible! You've got to love a bad girl. Look at 'Gone With the Wind,' Scarlett O'Hara - total bad girl, but you love her.”
“If I could have picked an era to have lived, I think I would've loved to have been one of Louis XIV's mistresses. They were so fantastic and aristocratic, and they had so much power. And he was such a renaissance man. I think I would've fit into that nicely.”
“Maybe people don't see me as believable playing a person of today. I guess I'm just more realistic in a corset and funny hairstyles.”
“Without Merlin, there would be no Gandalf, so I see them as the same thing, one a continuation of the other.”
“I had this vague notion that one day I might be editor of 'Vogue China.' It was a bizarre ambition, as I didn't speak a word of Chinese. There were flaws in my plan, admittedly.”
“I wasn't born an actress, but I was certainly born dramatic!”
“I do keep getting these bad girl roles. The funny thing is that, honestly, I don't think I'm believable as these aristocratic mean girls. But I do love playing them.”
“I wear a lot of black, knitwear, skinny jeans and very high heels. My mum used to work for a fashion designer making knitwear, so she knits me lots of chunky scarves, hats and gloves, which I love.”
“It's not an understatement to say that I owe everything as an actor to 'Merlin.' It was pretty much my first job, and I didn't know what I was doing for many years on it. It wasn't until the third and fourth series - the fourth series especially - that I really found my feet with the character, and as an actress.”
“One day I'd love a house in the country, with some chickens, dogs and kids.”