The temptation is to try and be Judi Dench, and that would be foolish!"

At 5ft 3in and around 9½st, I’m in reasonably good trim. I’m clearly my father and mother’s daughter [actor John Mills and writer Mary Hayley Bell].

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It seems like being slim is in the gene pool. I should do more working out than I do, but I swim and I love walking. But then I fell over in July, tripping over a loose paving stone, sliding along the pavement on my upper lip and bashing my right knee. Rehearsals for the stage adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s book – and hit film – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel were due to start and I had to wear a brace on my knee for the first week. I’m fine now.

Last year, and with the help of my elder son, Crispian, I finally finished my autobiography, Forever Young, which involved digging back through the journals I’ve kept since I was 13 and cast in the film