You star in Channel 5 cop drama Suspects, tell us about that...
It’s an improvised police drama. The cast are given basic information about who has been killed, who the suspects are, what the evidence is and we have to take it from there.
Sounds scary for the actors…
We looked at each other when we first started filming and said: ‘Oh My God!` And I felt like saying: ‘Help, I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!’ But, actually, you get into the swing of it and because it’s so spontaneous and script free, you begin to feel you are doing the job of a real-life detective. It’s strangely addictive.
Could you be a real-life detective?
Well I’ve certainly had the urge to arrest a couple of civilians, after a couple of glasses of rose, just for annoying me. More seriously, we’ve had a high-ranking Met officer as adviser on the series and he did say my interview techniques have got a lot better, and far more legitimate, as the series has gone along. I’ve learned that you should avoid being too rude, or too bolshie, with a suspect. That can destroy a case, get it thrown out.
You've reinvented yourself as a cookery writer; have you still found time to write the cook books, with all this police work?
Yes, I have a new book called Fay Makes It Easy coming out on March 13!
With a TV series off the back of it?!
Not necessarily! I was close to doing a cookery show in America and that may yet translate over here. What I really want to be - although of course the positions are filled - is a judge on The Great British Bake Off. I’m chatty and I have a lot to say for myself, on the subject of food!
Talking of food, is that the way to a man’s heart?
Well, my husband (Aussie actor Daniel Lapaine) certainly enjoys what I cook! Romantically, I’m not huge on grand gestures, it‘s more about just loving each other, and saying to each other: ‘I love you’ on a daily basis. If my husband buys me flowers, I’m quite practical about it. I will say: ‘How much did they cost, was that entirely necessary?’
Do you have a signature dish? Pavlova. It’s a recipe that will literally make people's jaws drop to the ground and it’s really easy. It has to be easy for me otherwise I get stressed. You pre-make the meringue and put whipped cream with roasted hazelnuts into it. Add fresh raspberries into your cream which makes it go pink and then drizzle melted chocolate over the top. Honest to God, if you want somebody to forgive you, marry you, make this.
What are your views on ageing?
I haven’t had anything done yet but I’m certainly not saying no. But I fear looking weird. If you see me, in a couple of interviews time, looking a bit weird, you will know I've had something done.
How Do You Stay In Shape? It's a struggle, especially around the time when I am writing one of my cookery books. I put on half a stone per book and I put on half a stone per baby. Two babies, three books... You do the maths. Now I just dress cleverly.
What's the one thing you can't live without?
My husband and my children. On a shallow level, I couldn’t do without a new handbag, from time to time.
Suspects, Wednesdays, 10pm, Channel 5