Quotes from Maxine Peake

You want to go to your deathbed saying, 'I didn't sell out.' But it's a tough business to keep to what you believe in and get through and do well.

The women I play don't sit in the corner eating lettuce leaves and talking about what designer shoes they have.

There aren't that many great female roles in Shakespeare - none that I'd be desperate to play.

I don't really engage with that world of technology, which might be to my detriment.

I know I sometimes come across as being quite dismissive about acting. But I'm not. It's like people reading their diaries in public. I don't want to talk about how I create characters. I find it self-indulgent.

I went to Salford Tech. They did a two-year performing arts course. I went there singing and dancing - I had a terrible time. I turned up in green dungarees and German power boots. I was into prog rock at the time - Gong and Hawkwind - and I was clumping around.

Generally, I am losing faith in telly, as we do have good dramas but not as many as there should be.

The films, the music, the telly that I like is always a little bit more on the margins.

In my 20s, I was going round seeing agents who were patronising because I was fat and a girl, which was a double whammy. I knew what it was to feel out-of-the-loop.

They always said to me that I needed to be more feminine. I think it's so wrong. Being boisterous doesn't mean you are not feminine.

Sometimes it feels like the feminist movement never happened.

I'm really unimaginative - once I like something, I fix on it.

We need a wider sense of community because we're all on the same planet.

I'm quite cautious in most areas of my life, but I'm always happy to gamble when it comes to acting. I'm not frightened of falling on my face.

I get easily distracted and become a bit of a giddy giggler. I'm not good at taking myself seriously, and laughing at myself helps ease the pressure.

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.

Crying does not equal good acting.

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

As I've got older, I've got slightly more fussy. You've got less time; you need to use it wisely.

I love hoovering. People go to therapists; I've got a Hoover.

I'm always an advocate of 'acting is reacting,' which can be difficult.

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'm not a fan of reality TV.

I'm very independent, probably quite selfish, and like being able to disappear at the drop of a hat without having to explain myself - most men would find that a pain, wouldn't they?