The actor, 62, on losing her brother, awful things directors have said, and having enough of Sex and the City
My parents were a huge influence on the person I’ve become. Mum was a secretary and dad was a construction engineer. They were scousers, real grafters and emigrated to
Canada when I was a baby. Dad was always telling me, “You can do anything.” So I grew up thinking that if he believed in me, I could do whatever I put my mind to.
My mother’s childhood was shocking and dramatic. Her father abandoned my grandmother, leaving her in terrible poverty, struggling to bring up three children. As I’ve got older that’s inspired me to want to tell stories about real women who are not Superwoman but need extraordinary powers to survive, like my grandmother.