Maxine Peake

Music is a huge inspiration to my style. I first got into it when I was 10: the new wave mod scene.

My kind of work is very intense. The trouble with me is that I completely fling myself into it. I get giddy. I get terrible crushes on jobs.

When I'm going to work, I often stop and wonder how I've got here. I don't mean literally, but just thinking back to when I first had the idea of being an actress, it seemed so unreal, so unlikely. People like me just didn't become actresses. Every new job I get comes as shock. It's almost as if I'm waiting to be found out.

I don't have massive ambitions to be anywhere other than in this country doing good work.

Sometimes the darker the work, the more fun you can have.

I care about my work, but I don't care about getting it wrong. The more you do, the more you realise nobody's going to die.

I think an actor's process should be very personal and private, and sometimes I have thought, 'Oh, please, put it away now.'