Self-destruction.

I'm too diplomatic. I tend to edit my mind before I speak - it can be incredibly draining.

If I had a trait that I truly deplored, I would work to erase or modify it…Probably, a lack of discipline. (Though people think that I write quickly, & don’t revise, quite the reverse is true.) To myself, I work very slowly & painstakingly, & am often frustrated by accomplishing so little. My friend Margaret Atwood has said that in the late afternoon she is likely to be overcome by a feeling of desperation that she has accomplished so little that day, & this is a feeling I share, often. It seems that I waste most of my time gazing out the window here at my (overgrown) garden; & when I am in Berkeley, where I spend about one-third of the year, I am forever gazing out the window toward the San Francisco Bay & a continually changing, always-beautiful sky.

Laziness. After 30 years of being a disciplined athlete with an intensely tight schedule, I still can’t forgive myself for letting things slide.

A personal assistant.

Not working. I want to be one of those old actors on the set of Casualty at 95, who quietly passes away in the actual scene rather than at home.

During the first week or two of lockdown. We didn’t know what was coming and it didn’t feel dangerous at that point; there was just a real sense of family and hunkering down.

Lee Warburton. He had just left drama school and was doing the Alexander technique in the Corrie green room. I hadn’t been to drama school, and really took the piss out of him.

As somebody who was hardworking, kind and nice.

The fact that there are not enough hours in the day and I’ve taken on too much.