“I'm very lucky because I don't half get some juicy jobs. But I can't t...” — Lesley Manville Quote

I'm very lucky because I don't half get some juicy jobs. But I can't tell you the number I've turned down in the past 20 years because I wanted to be at home, looking after my son. There was never any question about that. Alfie and I are dead close. I can't bear it when he's away.

I had two starts, really. The first was going to the Italia Conti stage school, aged 15. I'd gone to sing, but one day I found myself doing an improvisation and thought, 'Oh God, I quite like this acting thing.' The second start was meeting Mike Leigh when I was 22. He showed me I could play people that weren't like me.

I think that distributors and marketing companies realise that there are a huge number of women over 40 who want to go the cinema and see films about themselves. Women of my age don't want to be force-fed with stuff about 25-year-olds.

A friend of mine rang the box office to collect a ticket I'd reserved for her, and the girl said, 'Who's Lesley Manville?'

It was always important to me to make sure Pooh came across as much more than a bear of very little brain. There is an innate wisdom there somewhere.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about people. It's about leaving the ninety and nine and going into the wilderness after those who are lost. It's about bearing one another's burdens, with the ultimate burden anyone can bear being walking through this life without light.

Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys.

Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age.

Cruelty to children is the thing I can least bear in the world.