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LIFES A BEACH FOR MARTINE
Martine McCutcheon heads back to soapland in new series Echo Beach. We sit down with her to chat about being dowdy, that alleged engagement ring and why she doesnt own a saucepan.
Oh, no, no, no, says Martine McCutcheon, adamant in her answer. Im not engaged. Shes responding to pictures earlier this year of her wearing a huge diamond sparkler on her wedding finger at The Ivy in London, but thanks to high-profile relationships going majorly south in the past, anything now is kept on the QT.
Guys look a bit, she admits, about potential suitors. They stare a lot because they probably think, I dont know where to begin with her. What do I say? Do I pretend I dont know who she is or I pretend I do know who she is? The ones who are brave enough to come up are normally the ones who are a bit bolshy and not very nice and its probably the shy ones that you dont get to meet who are the ones who could be really lovely.
But she wont be drawn any further on whether she has a man in her life, although she admits to seeing someone. She smiles: Im very happy at the moment and thats all I can say about my love life.
If her off-screen relationships are in limbo, its certainly not the case for her latest on-screen character. The 31-year-old is playing Susan, a blowsy housefrau with two teenage kids in Cornwall-set, night-time soap Echo Beach. Her dull marriage to Mark (Hugo Speer) is given a testosterone injection in the form of ex Daniel (Jason Donovan) when he rolls back into town.
Shes a bit frumpy, isnt she? says the actress of Susan, who sports a quite hideous dress in the premiere episode. Actually, she remembers, that proved to be quite lucky. It was one of the worst summers Cornwalls ever seen and there were times they were going, Weve got to cut, Martines being hit by hailstones. Because Susan was frumpy, I got to wear a big cardigan!
She explains: Susans very repressed. Shes controlled by her husband and is secretly yearning for the gold in her life. Ive always enjoyed the fact that the characters I play always have a sense of me in them because they wear their hearts on their sleeves.
A star since making her name as Tiffany in EastEnders, she has trod the West End boards and controversially scooped a Laurence Olivier Award for her role as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. (She got great reviews, but an illness meant her understudy performed more than she did). She has hit the top of the charts with her single Perfect Moment, copped off on screen with Hugh Grant in blockbuster Love Actually, doled out criticism on Soapstar Superstar and comic Russell Brand just revealed he snogged
her while they were at theatre school together.
One thing she hasnt much luck with is boys. She ditched Jonathan Barnham and Steve John Shepherd for allegedly cheating on her and secrets of her life with former fiancé Gareth Cooke ended up all over the tabloids after he kissed and told. Most recently, she had a long relationship with property man James Tanner, but it didnt last.
Which might be why she is plunging herself back into work, appearing as Miss Marples sidekick last year (2007) and returning to the world of soaps with Echo Beach. The twist with the latter is that we will also get a chance to see Martine McCutcheon dealing with the the shows producers (played by comedian Ben Miller) in Moving Wallpaper. A clip from later in the series shows her crying her eyes out when she thinks shes been fired - an ironic move considering the furore surrounding her death in EastEnders which subsequently led to her publicly criticising BBC honcho Mal Young in her autobiography.
Thankfully, Martine has had enough time to appreciate the amusement factor. I said, I bet she cries and says, Not again! and they said, No, theres not the Not again! bit but theres an Oh, no! I said, Great, bring it on! Thats fabulous. It ended pretty badly at EastEnders but Ive too much pride and too much dignity to let myself go like that. But its what wed all want to do on the inside.
So what if there isnt a ring on that finger? Weve got Martine McCutcheon back in a soap opera - which is exactly where we want her. |
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