Judy Parfitt

Look at Nicola Walker in 'Last Tango in Halifax.' She has the most wonderful face. You just want to look at her. And if she'd gone off and had Botox and facelifts, I wouldn't want to look at that face because it wouldn't express anything.

Dementia is, after all, a symptom of organic brain damage. It is a condition, a disorder of the central nervous system, brought about in my case by a viral assault on brain tissue. When the assault wiped out certain intellectual processes, it also affected emotional processes.

We exist in this weirdly schizo culture, where sex is everywhere in the media, and yet, at the same time, you don't sit down and have a conversation about what you did in bed last night with your friends. Despite the ubiquity of sex, it's still a taboo when it comes to day-to-day conversation.