Quotes from Kathy Burke

I want to understand rites of passage I've never experienced, like motherhood.

I've been a Labour voter all my life.

It can be seen as being quite selfish, but I'm very happy to be selfish.

I am always being told off for using bad language but it's sort of lovely really, because it makes me think of my lovely dad who was constantly shouting at me for bad language.

I'm a beautiful person, I know I am.

I'm very much a person who walks on egg shells.

Growing up in the '70s, if you were a girl or woman, a man could tell you what to do - if you were sitting on the bus: 'Get up,' 'Move,' whatever. You did what you were told.

Once I was 13 and on the bus with me mate Mary when we passed this little bit of green where all the winos used to go and it was a little bit embarrassing because I saw me dad there amongst them all. When it was bad, it was very bad.

I do what I wanna do and I see who I wanna see. And when you get into your forties, it's like being a teenager again, really. Everyone else in their forties thinks they can chat to you.

I was losing the buzz of going on stage - and getting a bit tired.

I don't half love being in my forties! You feel more grown-up and can say 'no' to things without feeling you're letting the whole team down. You don't have to worry about pleasing other people all the time. You just feel more comfortable in yourself.

What I enjoy most about directing is the chance of working things out with the writer, plus I need their approval and I like the chat.

I'd probably go Green because I am really worried about climate change and the planet.

I remember the nuns used to swear quite a lot, so I think maybe it's picking it up from them.

So if you see me popping up on 'Cats Does Countdown,' you know Kath needs a bit of money.

I'm getting really fed up with the way that girls and women get portrayed a lot of the time.

Because I didn't have a Mum - she died when I was a baby - my Dad was told by people in authority that it was best for me to go to a convent school.

If we want equality, we shouldn't then expect to be praised just because we're doing a certain job. That's not equality.

I was a very lame skinhead. I had to be in by 8:30 P. M., so I used to pretend that I had a baby sister I had to go home and baby-sit.

Edinburgh is good craic. A romantic and beautiful city, it's one those places that makes me smile when I think about it - there are other places I would never dare go back to, but Edinburgh is very special.

The sad thing in this day and age is kids have access to all sorts of horrible stuff on the Internet and they need to be taught the stuff about love and sex.

It bloody annoys me when people forget that we're actors. Just because we tend to appear in things with our own accents, saying dialogue that comes naturally to us, people think we're just being ourselves.

When I first decided to take off the tap shoes and concentrate on theatre directing, Dominic Dromgoole got in touch to ask if I'd like to do something with Oxford Stage Company. My reaction was negative.

I fell out of love with acting and in love with directing.