Vicky McClure quotes:

I've always been a happy-go-lucky person. I haven't got any dark tales, I didn't draw on my own past, I'm from a very normal stable background and had an amazing childhood, and I haven't got any complaints really.

I danced from the age of three, so I was always going to do something performance-related. I got into the Television Workshop drama group in Nottingham when I was 11 and went there for ten years.

I'd like to do something where there's a strong female character and some action. I've done a few stunts in the past.

My first job ever was on 'Peak Practice.' I just had to walk up the stairs. They kept the take where I slipped slightly, which was annoying.

A journalist can make or break a case, in a way, because they can figure out things the police can't, or they can destroy people's lives.

I get to have Sunday lunch at my mum's, pick my nephew up from school now and then: it's a very normal life.

I'm strong. I like to mother people, look after people. I lead the gang.

I'm not slim. I'm a curvy girl: I've got thighs and a bum. I don't mind baring the fact that I've got a bit of cellulite because everybody has. I find it off-putting when everybody on telly is the same size or looks the same build. For me, it's important for people to watch someone normal.

If you have a passion and love for something, it's hard to give it up. I had jobs where the people were helpful and let me go to auditions, and I'd make up the hours another day. I was lucky in that respect: I could afford to get to London.

I just feel like I'm such a normal person in an industry that is so chaotic and crazy. I am what I am, and I can't change it. And I don't want to change it.

There are lots of people who haven't been to drama school who have great talent and can be discovered.

Eventually I just want to live a normal life. I want to get married and have children and cook, wash... all the things that I do now. My background is very normal and steady, and that's what I like.

Yes, I certainly look for strong characters - whether that means they're strong in their vulnerability or strong in the way they might be attractive to lots of blokes.