Far from it. In recent months Anna's been bruised and battered to the point where she thought she couldn't take it any more. She's been filming back-to-back on the BBC's four part adaptation of Dickens'  Our Mutual friend (co-starring Timothy Spall, Paul McGann and Pam Ferris) and St Ives, another BBC costume drama set in the French revolution, with Miranda Richardson and Richard E Grant.

'I'd arrived straight from the set of St Ives to do Our Mutual Friend. I'd been filming in the rain in Germany and had terrible flu, plus I was covered in cuts and bruises,' she says.

'For St Ives I had to ride bareback and side-saddle on a horse in excruciatingly tight corsets. I was clinging on to the horse's neck with my thighs. Then I cut my hand on a sword during a fight scene.

'By the time I arrived for Our Mutual Friend I was a mess, with cuts all down my legs and my hand bandaged.

At the end of the first week I began to get the frights. I was thinking: "Oh my God, I can't do it, I've taken on too much."' She battled on and finally got through the ordeal.

'I just feel very sad for him. It's a simple thing to say, but what goes around comes around and whatever you do in life comes back to you tenfold.

'But I hope he's OK. When you've loved someone for two and a half years, no matter what they've done, it doesn't take that love away.

During the unhappy time of the break-up, Anna was comforted by singer Robbie Williams, who whisked her off to Rome for a weekend and even dedicated album -tracks to her.

She says she now gets the support she needs from her teacher parents and 18-year-old brother, who live in her home town of Rochdale, Lancashire.

'I've got a really sturdy background, so I'm lucky in that respect. If anything gets too hard I just go home and say: "Sorry; I can't work for a bit, I'm sorting things out."'

Although Anna seems mature, she's only 21 and still relies heavily on her family's advice.

'We all spend so much time planning where we're going to rather than living for now Oh, and my mum always tells me to get enough sleep.'

Anna's father Des already runs her Internet fan club - she has her own page. Ideally, she would love him to give up teaching and look after her full time.

'I don't have a manager, I haven't got a publicist, I've only got an agent. Now there's too much to do. My dad is the only one I trust to look after my interests,' she says.

As well as the television work, Anna is currently involved in two films. The first is Land Girls, a wartime drama due to be premiered later this year. The second is Rogue Trader, the true story of Nick and Lisa Leeson, due for release next year.

'Seven years of growth gone in half an hour,' she says. 'I didn't look in the mirror from beginning to end. When I saw it I started whimpering and said: "Where's it gone? It's horrible, it's horrible!"'

Even though Anna's been busy, she says she misses the intimacy of being part of a couple. She lives on her own in a flat in west London and is learning to adjust.

'I miss the stability of being with someone who shares everything with you,' she says. 'When I first began living by myself, I was scared. Now it's great. I can potter around, do what I want. It's lovely.