“It’s sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. I play a very manipulative vixen and it was lots of fun. It’s good to be a bad girl. I think I can often fall into the girl-next-door box.

On working with Rupert Grint:

“Rupert is lovely. We had a difficult love scene together one day and we were both really nervous. But he was really sweet and we giggled most of the day.”

“But because she hasn’t grown up a maid, she’s not really sure how to act and soon gets taken down a peg or two. Vermeer’s studio becomes her sanctuary and he teaches her about art, about light and composition – things a girl of that time would never usually have learnt.”

“I had a few hate texts from my friends – they were very jealous I got to work with Mr Firth,” she laughs. “But I was disappointed to play his daughter so there was no love scene there.”

“I was doing Cranford when I found out I got Wild Child. It was my first big American film. With so much money riding on it, everything has to be just right so there’s a lot of pressure. But as I’d never done anything like it before, I didn’t think about it and just got on with the job. I also got to go to LA which was a lot of fun.”

On her character:

“I’m playing a schoolgirl, and it’s all girly mischief, which is really fun.”

“Eileen Atkins told me the best piece of advice she got was from Alec Guinness – to set three alarm clocks.”

On her character:

“Sophy is intelligent and bright, and I think people like her because she is very genuine. She doesn’t entirely wear her heart on her sleeve, but she’s a very honest person with a lot of responsibility on her shoulders.”

On the impact it had on her career:

“Cranford opened a lot of doors for me, and led to my involvement in the film Wild Child, which was kind of a big American adventure and then Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, where I got to play an uber-bitch which again was great fun!”

“I love having popcorn and just sitting in the dark. It’s the best form of escape.”

“Acting gives me a confidence that I don’t have in real life. I get to say things as characters that I’d love to have the nerve to say in real life. You can be sexy or frightened one minute and the next, the director says ‘cut’ and you snap out of it,” she said. “I started acting in school plays and dances at 13 or 14 and then I did a drama GCSE and A-Level. I then went straight to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and would get my acting friends together to star in my boyfriend’s short films, because he was studying film studies at the same time.”

On being recongised:

“I look quite different to the people I play – I blend into the crowd in real life. I’ve signed a few autographs, which is really weird but it’s really sweet as it’s usually for young girls who have seen the teen movies.”

On working on a film set:

“A lot of my background is in theatre, so when you’re on location and the wind is really blowing, it’s raining and you’ve got mud all over you, it really keeps you on your toes.”