Lesley Nicol

“I inherited my weight problem from my mum. She was always on diets. If there was a box of chocolates in the house, she'd eat half a chocolate, then put the other half back. She loved me, but...”

“I took a cookery course. On the examination, I had to cook a cheese omelet with peas and an egg custard. With the egg custard, which was supposed to be a dessert, I forget to put the sugar i...”

“I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.”

“I'm an ambassador for Medical Detection dogs.”

“I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since I've been in 'Downton Abbey,' which has made me much more fashion conscious.”

“When I heard I had gotten 'Downton Abbey,' I remember I was standing on a freezing cold street in Manchester where we were shooting the Manchester part of 'West is West.'”

“Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity I've met as a result of 'Downton Abbey.'”

“I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I'd got 'Downton Abbey' when I was 22.”

“I've been to the White House and had Hilary Clinton push through the crowd to come and meet me. Chelsea Clinton, too.”

“I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.”

“The first role I played was Madame Ranevsky in 'The Cherry Orchard.'”

“I never imagined I'd go into acting, but I always loved drama, and when I was 16, I discovered the Library Theatre up the road. So I plucked up courage and asked if I could watch rehearsals....”

“People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.”

“'Sweeney Todd' is my favorite Sondheim musical.”