Judy Parfitt

I'm just growing old, darling. I don't know about gracefully.

Nowadays, people send rockets into space, and I think it does make you question if there's a God. They can make babies in a dish now! Everything we're seeing goes against what people always believed in.

I don't know if a penny's dropped somewhere, but you've had 'Lark Rise to Candleford,' you've had 'Cranford,' you've had 'Last Tango in Halifax,' you've had 'Call the Midwife'... I think the largest portion of the viewing public are over 55, and they like to see people they can identify with.

Judi Dench should be ashamed of herself for being so talented and working so much.

This is why Alzheimer's is such a terrible disease: the body of the person you love is there, but they've gone - your husband is gone - and they become your child, and you have to look after them as you would a child.

The thing about growing old is you have to accept it - if you don't, you'll be as miserable as sin. You've got to try and find the few good things about it.

Faith is something that's been created to help people get through life.

Having plastic surgery is pathetic. You don't look any younger; you look well for a bit until it starts going again, but it takes all the character out.

Can I remember exactly when I 'lost' my husband? Was it the moment when I had to start tying his shoelaces for him? Or when we stopped being able to laugh with each other? Looking back, that turning point is impossible to pinpoint. But then, that's the nature of dementia.

You see, the thing is, if you don't do anything to your face, and you get old, and you can stand up, and you can remember your lines, the work is there.