Period drama is such a huge umbrella term: it seems to cover everything from Claudius to something from the 1920s.

'Pride And Prejudice' takes place in a similar period to 'Vanity Fair,' and yet there's a huge difference between Jane Austen and Thackeray.

My family weren't actors, and we didn't know any actors. It wasn't even something I was aware you could do as a job. I thought you had to be a Redgrave or a Barrymore before you were allowed to go to drama school.

Acting was a slow-burn thing. I found it was something I really, really liked doing, but it wasn't until my third year at drama school that I actually thought, 'Oh, right, I'm trained for this now; I'd better see if I can do it.'

I'm guilty of it myself, sort of thinking, 'Classic novels: snoozeville.' But there is a huge amount of wonderful material.

It might be quite boring if you did something and thought it was perfect.