“A few things make a person stylish: honesty, imagination with a sprinkling of humour. I still keep an eye on trends, but I don’t follow them any more.”
― Maxine Peake
“I love ‘Splash!’ and ‘Take Me Out.’ Not that I’d ever do ‘Splash!’ It’s the parading on British TV in a swimming costume I couldn’t handle.”
― Maxine Peake
“When I’m going to work, I often stop and wonder how I’ve got here. I don’t mean literally, but just thinking back to when I first had the idea of being an actress, it seemed so unreal, so unlikely. People like me just didn’t become actresses. Every new job I get comes as shock. It’s almost as if I’m waiting to be found out.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m inspired by films from the early ’50s, especially Jean Simmons in ‘The Clouded Yellow’ – and by vintage swing, psychobilly gigs, sea shanties, and English folklore.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m really unimaginative – once I like something, I fix on it.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m very independent, probably quite selfish, and like being able to disappear at the drop of a hat without having to explain myself – most men would find that a pain, wouldn’t they?”
― Maxine Peake
“It’s interesting when people say, ‘You always play strong women,’ because as far as I’m concerned, women are strong. I think that’s what women are. We have got that vulnerability, but we have got that strength. We are survivors.”
― Maxine Peake
“Every job still feels like the first time.”
― Maxine Peake
“They always said to me that I needed to be more feminine. I think it’s so wrong. Being boisterous doesn’t mean you are not feminine.”
― Maxine Peake
“I was a tomboy. I had a pudding-bowl haircut; I wore big Doc Martens and dungarees.”
― Maxine Peake
“I was a tomboy. In my clubbing days, my friend Lucy Davies-Hunt – half-Iranian, looked like Yasmin Le Bon – could wear catsuits, while I was the one in the sweatshirt, jeans, and Fila boots.”
― Maxine Peake
“When I graduated, I was my biggest ever: 15 stone, with a boyfriend – my first – of just 11 stone. I was 23 years old. It wasn’t just affecting my career: it was a health issue as well.”
― Maxine Peake
“I reckoned my accent and class would count against me; I didn’t see actresses as being working-class.”
― Maxine Peake
“You want to go to your deathbed saying, ‘I didn’t sell out.’ But it’s a tough business to keep to what you believe in and get through and do well.”
― Maxine Peake
“I think, as a woman, you’ve got to make so many sacrifices.”
― Maxine Peake
“I went to the Old Bailey, and I met a judge, and I was petrified, but they were like, ‘Oh, you’re an actor, well, great.’ It was a bit like we’re cut from the same cloth a little bit.”
― Maxine Peake
“I watch ‘Take Me Out’ mainly for Paddy McGuinness. When we were younger, we worked together as lifeguards at the Bolton Leisure Centre.”
― Maxine Peake
“’Toast of London’ is a must-watch. Matt Berry’s off-the-wall humour is slightly surreal and a little bit deviant. That’s why I also love ‘House of Fools.’”
― Maxine Peake
“We still have an underclass in this country who are constantly ignored and vilified.”
― Maxine Peake
“If I feel like if there’s a few too many people on that path with me, then I want to jump off and find another one.”
― Maxine Peake
“We shouldn’t still be asking, ‘Have you got children? Why’ve you not got children? Ooh, you must have children!’ Bog off, d’you know what I mean?”
― Maxine Peake
“What is male and what is female? I don’t always feel female.”
― Maxine Peake
“When I was growing up, because I was a bit overweight and boyish, I thought I wasn’t attractive to the opposite sex, but I have since met lads from my school who said I just seemed unapproachable.”
― Maxine Peake
“Often, when I am playing difficult roles, I have a problem sleeping because I can’t leave the character behind.”
― Maxine Peake
“I used to think the store detective had followed me all the way home and would knock on the door and go, ‘Hello, is this your daughter? She’s got three blue lipsticks and a moisturiser from Boots in her bag.’ We just used to nick crap. Not even stuff we wanted.”
― Maxine Peake
“I care about my work, but I don’t care about getting it wrong. The more you do, the more you realise nobody’s going to die.”
― Maxine Peake
“The ‘Bolton News’ is the best place for online comments. They say I’m an absolute idiot and a communist anarchist. I was never an anarchist; I was a communist!”
― Maxine Peake
“People think I’m clever, which is hilarious. I’m like, ‘When did this happen? People used to think I couldn’t string a sentence together.’”
― Maxine Peake
“Sometimes the darker the work, the more fun you can have.”
― Maxine Peake
“I take bits and pieces from everything. But I think the Method can be very isolating, and sometimes it’s more about ego than playing the character truthfully.”
― Maxine Peake
“I think an actor’s process should be very personal and private, and sometimes I have thought, ‘Oh, please, put it away now.’”
― Maxine Peake
“I’ve always fancied being a bit of warrior, on a horse swinging a sword around, sorting out the men… Oh yes, that sounds lovely.”
― Maxine Peake
“I get very irate with actors when they talk about how distressing it all is. I mean, it’s only acting. Please.”
― Maxine Peake
“I love hoovering. People go to therapists; I’ve got a Hoover.”
― Maxine Peake
“Cooking, you can keep. I’ve not the slightest interest in it.”
― Maxine Peake
“I think all things are political… How women are portrayed – that’s a big thing for me. What is this role trying to say about women? Is this woman weak or victimised, and, if so, do we get to understand why?”
― Maxine Peake
“Everybody’s in a situation; everybody has a story. It’s about finding out why.”
― Maxine Peake
“We take things at face value, don’t we? You form an opinion about something immediately, but you ought to step back a bit. Take in the vista first.”
― Maxine Peake
“For me, I’m still always that kid from Bolton.”
― Maxine Peake
“When I’m not acting, I don’t feel like an actor.”
― Maxine Peake
“I find these dramas fascinating – it’s a world that many of us fortunately don’t dip into. The legal system is all around us, but the majority of us don’t have to go into a court, so it’s a way into another world that is unusual.”
― Maxine Peake
“I think with ‘Silk’ there’s something there for everyone: it’s a legal drama, but it’s human as well – you get to dip into the lives of the barristers and clerks.”
― Maxine Peake
“Food is important in working out a character. How she eats is a window into her temperament. If I think she likes her food, I’ll put on a few pounds, or lose a few if she lives on her nerves.”
― Maxine Peake
“At drama school, I was told, ‘Lay off the chips, or you’ll never play Juliet.’ Sometimes, in the stock room of the set of ‘Dinnerladies,’ I’d put away three or four Mars bars while waiting for a scene. Then, at 24, I lost five stone.”
― Maxine Peake
“The first posh meal out I had was on my 10th birthday.”
― Maxine Peake
“After my mum and dad got divorced, I was entitled to free school dinners, but my mum said, ‘Under no circumstances,’ because she was proud.”
― Maxine Peake
“I don’t have massive ambitions to be anywhere other than in this country doing good work.”
― Maxine Peake
“When we were doing ‘Criminal Justice,’ they were filming ‘Clash of the Titans’ nearby and we kept nicking off to their catering tent and going, ‘Look what they’ve got!’”
― Maxine Peake
“Nobody’s impressed back home. All my friends were going, ‘Oh right, so you’re doing a play up in Leeds? Another depressing one is it? Do you mind if we don’t bother coming?’ I love that.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m always an advocate of ‘acting is reacting,’ which can be difficult.”
― Maxine Peake
“As a human, if you’re in a scary situation, you pretty much forget about everything else! You just try and survive.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m a big techphobe. Someone else helps me run my Twitter; I wouldn’t be able to trust myself.”
― Maxine Peake
“I don’t really engage with that world of technology, which might be to my detriment.”
― Maxine Peake
“We need a wider sense of community because we’re all on the same planet.”
― Maxine Peake
“When I was a little girl, there was this unbelievably cool female bus driver who’d work near us. I remember thinking I’d like to be her when I grew up.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m a big comfort eater, so if I’m feeling sorry for myself, I’ll just stuff my face.”
― Maxine Peake
“You don’t want to bash viewers over the head with a blunt message or lecture them – they’d soon get bored with that.”
― Maxine Peake
“The women I play don’t sit in the corner eating lettuce leaves and talking about what designer shoes they have.”
― Maxine Peake
“If I were to appear in a programme like ‘Sex and the City,’ I’m sure I’d be cast as the downtrodden one staying at home and having seven children while the others jet-setted around the world.”
― Maxine Peake
“People will always respond to high-class drama.”
― Maxine Peake
“In my 20s, I was going round seeing agents who were patronising because I was fat and a girl, which was a double whammy. I knew what it was to feel out-of-the-loop.”
― Maxine Peake
“As I’ve got older, I’ve got slightly more fussy. You’ve got less time; you need to use it wisely.”
― Maxine Peake
“Male? Female? It’s not always relevant to some people. They are who they are – they might not fit into a specific box.”
― Maxine Peake
“There aren’t that many great female roles in Shakespeare – none that I’d be desperate to play.”
― Maxine Peake
“I must admit I don’t usually buy a daily paper, although I will get one if there’s an interview I want to read.”
― Maxine Peake
“Generally, I am losing faith in telly, as we do have good dramas but not as many as there should be.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m not a fan of reality TV.”
― Maxine Peake
“I left the North when I was 21 to go to drama school in London, and I stayed there 12 years.”
― Maxine Peake
“For me, politics is about passion. It doesn’t matter what you know; it’s your actions that count. I meet people who say they’re socialists, and that’s not what they carry out in their everyday life.”
― Maxine Peake
“I get angry about the way women are forced and bullied into what the male ideal is.”
― Maxine Peake
“I remember when New Labour got in. I was at Salford Tech studying drama, and everyone was jumping up and down, and I was so upset, I went to a phone box and called my granddad.”
― Maxine Peake
“I joined the Communist Party when I was 18. When I was 10, there was the miners’ strike, and the Cold War was going on; it was quite a potent time to get involved in politics. I got involved through my grandfather, who was a member.”
― Maxine Peake
“Sometimes it feels like the feminist movement never happened.”
― Maxine Peake
“I have recurring dreams about losing my temper, which become quite violent. I dread to think what that says about me.”
― Maxine Peake
“I actually used to compete at show-jumping when I was a young’un.”
― Maxine Peake
“I get easily distracted and become a bit of a giddy giggler. I’m not good at taking myself seriously, and laughing at myself helps ease the pressure.”
― Maxine Peake
“It’s great having time to just sit back and work through things in my mind. It helps put life into perspective.”
― Maxine Peake
“The films, the music, the telly that I like is always a little bit more on the margins.”
― Maxine Peake
“I am an actor. I love acting, and I absolutely love what I do, but I don’t want it to be every waking hour.”
― Maxine Peake
“I was told, ‘Your career’s made by what you don’t do,’ and that always stuck with me. I drive my agent mad!”
― Maxine Peake
“What’s wrong with wanting the best for everybody?”
― Maxine Peake
“I do, in a strange way, care deeply what people think.”
― Maxine Peake
“Pay in the acting world hasn’t kept up with inflation.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m unusual in that I’ve worked more as I’ve got older.”
― Maxine Peake
“I wasn’t an obvious actress in any sense of the word.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’m quite cautious in most areas of my life, but I’m always happy to gamble when it comes to acting. I’m not frightened of falling on my face.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’d rather go down with an almighty bang than play it safe.”
― Maxine Peake
“My kind of work is very intense. The trouble with me is that I completely fling myself into it. I get giddy. I get terrible crushes on jobs.”
― Maxine Peake
“I’ve always had pop-star crushes. I had a huge crush on Ian Brown.”
― Maxine Peake
“I didn’t have my first serious boyfriend until I was 23. Then after that, I went out with a guy I’d been best friends with all through drama school.”
― Maxine Peake
“I look up to the older generation of men – Arthur Scargill, Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn – but my main role model has been my step-granddad Jim. He’s brilliant, very political, quite eccentric.”
― Maxine Peake
“Unfortunately, at the end of the day, when you watch yourself on the screen, you are always you.”
― Maxine Peake
“I went to Salford Tech. They did a two-year performing arts course. I went there singing and dancing – I had a terrible time. I turned up in green dungarees and German power boots. I was into prog rock at the time – Gong and Hawkwind – and I was clumping around.”
― Maxine Peake
“Crying does not equal good acting.”
― Maxine Peake
“I know I sometimes come across as being quite dismissive about acting. But I’m not. It’s like people reading their diaries in public. I don’t want to talk about how I create characters. I find it self-indulgent.”
― Maxine Peake
“Music is a huge inspiration to my style. I first got into it when I was 10: the new wave mod scene.”
― Maxine Peake
“My favourite outfit is a giant bunny suit. I wore it in a music video for ‘Are You One?’ by the Chanteuse & the Crippled Claw and got to keep it.”
― Maxine Peake
“I think people expect me to dress a bit like Veronica from ‘Shameless,’ in vest tops and denim skirts.”
― Maxine Peake
“I think you can tell a lot by someone’s footwear – cowboy boots would put me off, as would a man in Ugg boots or Crocs.”
― Maxine Peake
“If I dress up, I try to wear something that’s still a bit me, but then I regret it when I see that everyone else has dressed up more and looks amazing.”
― Maxine Peake
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