Quotes from Laila Rouass

I want my daughter to grow up with memories of home-cooked meals, just as I did as one of seven children by Moroccan parents.

I sometimes meditate.

I like to have things around me that I love. However, I'm not a hoarder and get rid of everything I don't need.

It was quite emotional leaving 'Holby' but it was the right time. I was working long hours and wanted to spend more time with my daughter.

I'm not in a rush to walk down the aisle.

I have more than 100 pairs of Jimmy Choos and I feel very guilty about it.

When I was younger I used to volunteer at the Mother Teresa charities in India.

I think women are so much more interesting and sexy in their 30s and 40s.

My character in 'Primeval' is a bookworm but she is very sexy.

Yeah, I love shopping and clothes but I don't live to shop.

I come from a working class family. We barely had anything.

I've been taught always be nice to the lighting people - they're the people you make friends with straight away so that's what I do.

I always try to be healthy - brown rice, brown pasta.

I have months where I go to the gym all the time, but sometimes I choose long walks instead.

I come from a big family and I was never completely on my own.

I've got a Moroccan shape, where the weight goes on around the belly and the bum.

I recycle as much as I can but I'm not an eco warrior.

I travel a lot for work, so downloading books is easier than carrying them around.

I thought the Charleston would be a bit like the jive, but it isn't really.

There is this thing called catastrophic thinking - you start thinking that something catastrophic is going to happen. I get on a plane and I think it's going to crash, I just know it's going to crash, so you're petrified.

You want to be the best at your career, you want to be the best mum, a great wife and all of that. Most of the time, it's not possible. You have to compromise somewhere.

I get really bad road rage, and if my daughter is in the car I have to bite my lip and try not to swear.

I usually switch off my phone. I can't bear it; obviously I'm not a very social person like that.

I'm a single parent and it just wouldn't have been possible for me to carry on in 'Primeval' once filming of the show switched to Dublin for ten months.