Anne-Marie Duff

But he was born with a condition called Russell-Silber syndrome, which means that his growth was affected.

When he was born, no, they just thought he was a very tiny baby and there were lots of complications and then they worked it out.

But aside from that, you would never know.

And that didn't really present itself until we were grown-ups anyway, him just being a bit shorter.

But as a result of that and the time that was in it, he was sent to a school for children with disabilities.

So he had a very specific version of childhood, which led him to have huge amounts of empathy and understanding and a lack of judgment of people being different.

And he was a great campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities as a result.

Yeah, I mean, we used to do pretend radio shows.

Dad had an old reel-to-reel that he obviously had no use for anymore because, you know, it was easy.

So we would tape record with some of mum and dad's music that we would never want to listen to.

But he would be the DJ and I would be Zebby McGee always, you know, of course.

and yes we did that also he was obsessed with tennis and he loved John McEnroe and he would always be if we played tennis he would pretend to be John McEnroe and you were just happy you were happy and easy who was your best friend outside of the home as a little girl when I was a little girl I'd say my best friend childhood friend was somebody called Lisa Hopkins and she and I were best friends but it took a while for me I was a wee bit bullied when I was at my first school what does that mean

Just, you know, name-calling and I... Name-calling because you're Irish?

I don't know, I could have been part of it, who knows, but... Or because you are pretty.

Bless your sweetheart, but no, I've never been bullied for my looks.

I... I am not, despite my job, hugely extroverted.

So I have a handful of very close friends that I feel safest with.

And then I changed schools.

I was also super bright, which wasn't useful when you're a small person.

And I still am to this day, a ridiculous bookworm.