The Heat and Dust star appeared alongside Anita Dobson in the play Bette and Joan, about the personal and professional relationship between Davis and Joan Crawford - and she was only too happy to accept a role so different to her usual performances.

Speaking on U.K. chat show Loose Women, she says, ""It's the best role I've ever had - the range... Actors always want to play different types, we don't want to be typecast, but typecasting is the nature of success so for years I had to look pretty and elegant and very often be well-behaved or cold-hearted and mean but actually in life I'm half Italian and I'm quite hot-blooded and expressive.

""And I felt very often my acting had to be more restricted, more restricted in my behaviour than I am in life and Bette gives me a chance to let it all out.""