Quotes from Catherine Tate

I was not a 'Doctor Who' fan. As a kid, I thought it was scary and for boys.

I will absolutely say that whatever job I was asked to do, whatever schedule I was asked to work, it is never going to be as hard as looking after a child.

I've realised I need a gnawing, nagging, anxious doubt when I wake at 4 A.M.

It's never been a point of reference to look to a man. It's not always a good thing, I suppose, but I think independence is always preferable to dependence.

My advice to you is please don't ever sit in your room and lock yourself away because you don't think you're good enough.

I've never really thought I'd get married. It's not that I'm suspicious of it or anything like that, it's just that I don't have a reference for it because my mum wasn't.

Nothing prompts creativity like poverty, a feeling of hopelessness, and a bit of panic.

I don't like tea! Never have, never drunk it.

Few things focus the mind like fear.

There's no game plan when it comes to thinking up new characters; inspiration can come from anything - from a wig I've seen to an expression I've heard someone use.

I'm an incredibly negative person, so any form of success is only ever going to be a relief to me and set my default position back to neutral.

I used to go red when anybody spoke to me. It's awful because you absolutely cannot control it. If you are a child that blushes, or is shy, the one thing you want in the world is to be the child who comes in and says, 'Hi,' to everyone and goes up and makes friends.

Putting TV stars in plays just to get people in is wrong. You have to have the right people in the right parts. Stunt casting and being gimmicky does the theatre a great disservice. You have to lure people by getting them excited about a theatrical experience.

'Writing' always means 'not writing' to me because I will do anything to put it off. I think this is mainly because writing anything down and then handing it over to a third party - especially in comedy - is such an exposing act that you naturally want to delay the process.

I realised that if you get yourself labeled as the funny one, people don't look any further. I've used that as I've got older. It's controlling: I decide what part of my personality you're seeing. I don't want you to look at me, I really don't. I don't want you to comment on my clothes, my hair or the way I look.

When I realised I had a facility for humour, I latched on to it, and it gave me confidence and I built my personality around it. So I subconsciously made myself become the funny one so that would be my label rather than the ginger one or the red-faced one.

Nothing is ever going to be as important or as exciting as a baby. Everyone has their highs and lows, but if you've got that one constant in your life - in my case, a baby - the highs are never going to be as big, and the lows are never going to be as bad.

Although I was a shy child, I was also a bit flamboyant.

That's the poisoned chalice: when you're shy, people assume you're arrogant.

I'm not frightened of a bit of silence.

Writing comedy is an exposing thing because you're putting yourself on the line with every joke you write, and although you can't second-guess an audience, if you want to be successful, you have to write stuff people like.

I like doing both TV and live stuff, though it's nice to mix it up.

I tried four times to get into the Central School of Speech and Drama before I got accepted. I started when I was 17, which was too young, in retrospect, and finally went when I was 21. I just kept plugging away. Determined? Yeah, I think I was.

My mum left my dad when I was six months old, so I don't know him at all. I had no male figures in my life, really. I had my godfather, but he's more like a grandfather, so I was quite sheltered. I've never tried to find my father.