Quotes from Maxine Peake

Food is important in working out a character. How she eats is a window into her temperament. If I think she likes her food, I'll put on a few pounds, or lose a few if she lives on her nerves.

I reckoned my accent and class would count against me; I didn't see actresses as being working-class.

When we were doing 'Criminal Justice,' they were filming 'Clash of the Titans' nearby and we kept nicking off to their catering tent and going, 'Look what they've got!'

'Toast of London' is a must-watch. Matt Berry's off-the-wall humour is slightly surreal and a little bit deviant. That's why I also love 'House of Fools.'

I was a tomboy. In my clubbing days, my friend Lucy Davies-Hunt - half-Iranian, looked like Yasmin Le Bon - could wear catsuits, while I was the one in the sweatshirt, jeans, and Fila boots.

I was a tomboy. I had a pudding-bowl haircut; I wore big Doc Martens and dungarees.

I look up to the older generation of men - Arthur Scargill, Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn - but my main role model has been my step-granddad Jim. He's brilliant, very political, quite eccentric.

If I feel like if there's a few too many people on that path with me, then I want to jump off and find another one.

Male? Female? It's not always relevant to some people. They are who they are - they might not fit into a specific box.

I get angry about the way women are forced and bullied into what the male ideal is.

The 'Bolton News' is the best place for online comments. They say I'm an absolute idiot and a communist anarchist. I was never an anarchist; I was a communist!

We still have an underclass in this country who are constantly ignored and vilified.

Nobody's impressed back home. All my friends were going, 'Oh right, so you're doing a play up in Leeds? Another depressing one is it? Do you mind if we don't bother coming?' I love that.

I think with 'Silk' there's something there for everyone: it's a legal drama, but it's human as well - you get to dip into the lives of the barristers and clerks.

I must admit I don't usually buy a daily paper, although I will get one if there's an interview I want to read.

I'm inspired by films from the early '50s, especially Jean Simmons in 'The Clouded Yellow' - and by vintage swing, psychobilly gigs, sea shanties, and English folklore.

I've always fancied being a bit of warrior, on a horse swinging a sword around, sorting out the men... Oh yes, that sounds lovely.

A few things make a person stylish: honesty, imagination with a sprinkling of humour. I still keep an eye on trends, but I don't follow them any more.

Often, when I am playing difficult roles, I have a problem sleeping because I can't leave the character behind.

Cooking, you can keep. I've not the slightest interest in it.

For me, politics is about passion. It doesn't matter what you know; it's your actions that count. I meet people who say they're socialists, and that's not what they carry out in their everyday life.

I take bits and pieces from everything. But I think the Method can be very isolating, and sometimes it's more about ego than playing the character truthfully.

I'm a big comfort eater, so if I'm feeling sorry for myself, I'll just stuff my face.

When I was a little girl, there was this unbelievably cool female bus driver who'd work near us. I remember thinking I'd like to be her when I grew up.