Why have you decided to take part in The Celebrity Traitors?

Well, it's the most talked about game on television, isn't it? And on both sides of the Atlantic, worldwide in fact. I just think it's such a clever invention. I'd love to meet the person who thought it up.

What will you bring to the game?

I think it's a very good thing to remain as open as possible, really. But you see people think I'm nice, which could be very useful.

Do you want to be a Traitor or a Faithful?

The thing is, I don't really mind, but if Claudia's hand goes on my shoulder, I'll be ecstatic with excitement. However, I do think it's quite a hard job.

Have you got a good poker face?

I suppose, being an actor, you do spend your life pretending to be somebody else, so that's quite an advantage. But it is also a horror, because you haven't got a character to hide behind, and so it is the same as being on a chat show, you just have to be yourself which is oddly quite a difficult thing to present without seeming to be affected or unreal. It is quite exposing to just be yourself.

You are in the Thursday Murder Club, has that given you a taste for mystery and might it perhaps be good research for taking on this game?

In a strange sort of way, yes.

How do you feel about the Missions?

I’m quite nervous about them. I watched a bit of the first series where people were upside down on one of those wheels. I really couldn't! And it's a weird thing, because I used to love fairground rides when I was younger, but not now. That would give me the absolute heebie jeebies. I wouldn't want to be a bad sport, but I really wouldn't want to do that. I’m not mad about heights.

Did you have anybody that stood out to you from previous series that you thought they're a great player?

The young soldier boy, Harry. I was so on his side all the way through, and then I thought he was a wretch at the end!

Are you good at reading people, would you say? Can you spot a liar?

Yes, but I've got to have time. I don't think it's an instant thing. I want to give myself time to scrutinise their body language.

Do you think we might see a different side to you in this?

Yes, quite possibly. I have a naughty streak that I find hard to suppress.

Well, we don't ever see you just being yourself..

In my autobiography I say that actresses are likened to Victorian young girls sitting round a ballroom on their gilt chairs waiting to be asked to dance. And that's how our life is. We all have to wait for the part to come along. Yes, I could play Hedda Gabler in my attic but there's nobody to tell me how good I am. If I was Van Gogh, I could create a painting in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t need an audience.

The only thing I have tried to do in terms of control in my career is to attempt to try and do something as different to the last thing so as not to be pigeonholed. And this, to be a player of The Traitors, is as different to anything else I have ever done.

The Celebrity Traitors launches on Wednesday 8th October 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. There will be two episodes per week on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

(Image: BBC/Studio Lambert/Cody Burridge/Artwork - BBC Creative)

Interview supplied by publicists