Catherine Tate

Catherine: (on getting Greatest Contribution from Doctor Who Magazine): I am delighted with the award and would like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted. I loved my time on Doctor Who and to be appreciated in this way is the icing on the cake. Thank you very much.

Catherine: (Giving advice for writers and comedy performers) Trust yourself. You have to start with what you think is funny before you can have the confidence to write to anyone else's brief. Give a gag three chances to work, if after three (separate) attempts they're still not laughing, bin it. It's not them. It's you. Don't take criticism personally, take from it what's useful. Apply it and move on to something better. And be brave. No one got anywhere by being too scared to open their mouth in case nobody laughed. Good luck! Oh and this for the writer-performers: never cancel your previews.

Catherine: (On the process of writing) "Writing" always means "not writing" to me, because I will do anything to put it off. I think this is mainly because writing anything down and then handing it over to a third party - especially in comedy - is such an exposing act that you naturally want to delay the process.