Actress Sarah Parish is a firm believer in the adage ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’.
For work commitments have dictated that the former Cutting It and Mistresses actress, who returns in medical drama Monroe, in March, invariably spends weeks away from her actor husband James Murray.
Sarah, who has a two-year-old daughter, Nell, with Murray, says of her marriage: ‘I wish we could be together all the time but we have to take a job or we don’t get fed.
‘It’s not easy but we compromise. We might not see each other for weeks, but we agreed it’s better for us to be apart and happy, than to be bitter and unhappy.
‘We know we have to be patient and generous and let each other do our own thing.’
Meanwhile, Sarah states that she’s never looked like a pretty young thing. ‘I’ve looked fairly “worn-in” for two decades.
‘I’ve never played the young, pretty girl. So, now, I don’t feel the pressure to stay young.
‘It probably wasn’t such a good thing when I was younger, but it is now I’m 43!’

Award winning Hollywood make-up artist Leslie Graham gives NineToFive the lowdown on the latest trends in strong lip colours. And this woman knows way her around a make-up drawer.
She has worked on the most incredible movie projects and on some of the most famous faces. Oh yes. The looks you see from Twilight, Tron and X-Men were all created by her.
And now Leslie is based in Sydney, imparting her knowledge at The Make-up Technicians (TMT) school of make-up. Her tenure at the college is indefinite, charged with bringing to our shores the brand of make-up artistry for which she is renowned, helping shape the local make-up industry, and training up a new generation of artists in her craft.
You’ve worked with plenty of celebs. Who is your favourite?
I’ve been very lucky in my career to have had the opportunity to work with a great deal of amazing actors. I would say one of my favourites was British actor James Murray. We had a lot of laughs together.

Thank you very much James for your patience and answers to my questions!
1. How did you become involved with Primeval?
I was offered the role at treatment stage. No-one else to my knowledge was in the frame.
2. Do you know who else auditioned for the role of Stephen Hart?
See above.
3. Had you ever worked with CGI before Primeval?
Not to that extent.
4. Did you enjoy your time on Primeval?
Some jobs/roles are developed by the writers better than others.
5. Did you have any memorable experiences during your time on Primeval?
I proposed to my wife.
6. Have you watched the show following your departure?
On my to do list.
7. I am of the understanding that you were signed on for the third series at some point, to return as a clone of the original Stephen Hart. Is this true?
Not to my knowledge.
8. If the show’s creators were to redevelop the Stephen clone idea, would you be interested in making a return to Primeval?
It would depend on the script.
9. What do you consider to be the best thing about Primeval?
The name.
10. Do you have a favorite Primeval creature?
The raptors?
14. And finally, I must ask, do you really use your Stephen action figure as a doorstop?
He now wears a tiara & tutu and resides in my daughters toy box.

The children's heart unit at Southampton General Hospital is the second highest performing centre in the country. Its future is now in doubt and we need your help to save it.
Public rally and consultation meetings
Sarah Parish and James Murray joined the hundreds of campaigners who flocked to Guildhall Square to voice their opinions during the public rally and consultation meetings. More than 600 people listened to the panel’s responses, which included comments from the Government’s heart tsar that described Southampton as a “class act”.

ONE of Britain’s best-known celebrity couples, Sarah Parish and James Murray, have made a passionate plea to safeguard the future of Southampton’s prestigious children’s heart unit.
Their voices have joined the increasing public outcry against plans, which threaten the closure of this national centre of excellence at the city’s General Hospital.
The two actors, who live in Hampshire, have combined with more than 50,000 other local people who have also put their weight behind the Daily Echo Have a Heart campaign demanding that surgery on Ocean Ward should not close under proposed, NHS “efficiency’’ plans.
Sarah and James, both stars of television and cinema, have made a direct appeal to keep the specialist heart facility open, after suffering the personal anguish of losing their eightmonth- old daughter, Ella-Jayne, through a rare heart condition.
Both husband and wife described the threat to children’s heart surgery as “truly shocking’’, despite a recent official survey, which ranked the Southampton unit second best in the whole of the UK.
In a specially filmed video clip, Sarah and James urge the public to voice its opposition to the restructuring.
If surgery at Southampton is stopped, seriously ill children, needing urgent heart treatment, together with their distressed parents, would be forced to travel as far away as Bristol or London, places, which experts say, fall below the “exemplary” standards Southampton boasts.
Sarah, the star of programmes such as Peak Practice, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin and the ITV medical drama, Monroe, said: “The quality of care in the children’s heart hospital is outstanding and is currently rated the second best in the country.’’ James, whose credits include the hit television series, Cutting It, Primeval, and Chaos, added: “For the Government to say it is prepared to consider closing a centre like this is truly shocking and the cost to children in the south would be very, great indeed.
“We will both be fighting to make sure Southampton General Hospital continues as a children’s heart hospital.’’ Sarah and James are also involved in raising £100,000 for the children’s intensive care unit at the hospital, in memory of Ella-Jayne.
The couple said: “The Southampton team was directly responsible for giving Ella-Jayne the opportunity to come home and enjoy life with her mum and dad before her passing.
“All donations will go towards financing an inhouse counsellor for the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) to support parents, siblings, and families who, like us have, or had, a child in PICU.’’ Since the Daily Echo started its Have A Heart campaign more than 50,000 people have already put their signatures to a protest petition.

Sarah Parish - cover story - may 2011 - woman and home.
Actress Sarah Parish talks to Woman&Home about coping with loss, living for the moment and keeping chickens
I've got to the time in my life when I just want to do things I feel passionate about. The attraction of schlepping around the country diminished once I had Nell, and these days, I want to spend more time at home. So I carefully choose the work I do now.
When you go to a paediatric intensive care unit as a parent, it's terrifying. Peter Bowker wrote Monroe because his daughter had a brain tumour. He was put in this terrible position – as Jim and I were – of being in hospital and a surgeon saying, "I'm going to cut her open otherwise she's going to die".
I play a heart surgeon, so I shadowed the surgeon who I got to know at Southampton General. It fascinates me that they have to make everyday decisions that might help keep someone alive or might mean they die. It takes a lot of confidence and self-belief, and that was why I was interested in playing the part.
I've had to deal with my tragedies, and how you cope with them is what life's all about. You can choose to let them consume you or choose not to. It's very easy to be down and very hard to be up, but I always think the hardest thing to do is the best thing to do.
I try to be mindful all the time, and celebrate every minute. When something happens to you that affects you deeply, it changes your perspective. You realise what matters.
Jim and I moved out of London to a tiny village in Hampshire because we wanted to live in a healthier way and be more self-sufficient. Now we have a vegetable patch, and we keep chickens. Life for us in the country is a little like The Good Life.
I feel comfortable being in my forties. I've learnt not to be so frightened all the time. In my twenties I was very driven, and in my thirties I felt quite insecure and not good enough, but I've blossomed in my forties.
I used to be overly anxious about what people thought of me. It took time to be accepted in my business so I sometimes felt unconfident or not clever enough. But living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don't go out on the branch you're never going to get the best fruit.
Jim and I didn't get together until a long time after we first met. I got to know him, we became friends and it went from there. We're a real team and he's very hands-on with Nell.
Marriage is hard and it can be tough when you're both actors. We don't want to pull Nell all over the place, so keep her based as much as possible in Hampshire. So even if Jim and I spend more time apart, it's rare that Nell hasn't got one of us there.
I lead a very normal life but try to make it as peaceful as possible. I don't think anyone's life is totally wonderful, however it looks from outside. When you realise that we don't have control over what's going to happen in life, it becomes easier. It's difficult to do. But I try to take one day at a time.
This is an edited version of Sarah's interview. To read the full article, pick up the May issue of woman&home, out now.

Monroe star Sarah Parish talks about her new series and tells TV Times magazinewhy she’s decided now’s the time to take a step back from the day job...
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SERIES?
"They showed me the beginning of episode one, and I was almost in tears! This has never happened to me before, but it is so beautiful and so incredibly different and intelligent. and filmic and epic. It was like nothing I'd seen on television; I suddenly thought, 'Oh my God, I'm incredibly proud to be in this!'"
HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR ROLE AS A SURGEON?
"I went to watch heart surgeon and friend Marcus Haw, at work. He is a wonderful surgeon. He very kindly let me come in to watch a mitral valve replacement and a heart bypass. It was quite awe-inspiring. It is incredible what they do and how confident they are. They would be talking like us now about what they had for lunch. I was like, 'No, concentrate!' But there is not one minute where you don't feel safe. You know every single person there is so brilliantly trained. It is not like you see in films, there is no panic in the theatre."
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE ROLE IN THE BEGINNING?
"The writer Peter Bowler. His writing has a very sharp edge to it, sometimes it's incredibly un-politically correct, and it hasn't got that earnestness that a lot of hospital dramas have. That's what we wanted to get away from,. We didn't want to tug on people's heartstrings. The situations themselves are heartbreaking; you don't need to make them more so. The reality of situations like that, which I'm sure all of us have been in, is that at the time there aren't that many tears. It is all quite confusing – and sometimes hilarious."
WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU?
"My husband James Murray is doing a series for CBS out in Vancouver, called Chaos. So now it is my turn to be out of work and be his 'set wife'. I have never had to do that before, and I've got to be honest, it will be a real suck-it-and-see experience. We have a nanny, who is great, but we try to take turns with working so that one of us is always with Nel. It would be very difficult if Jim was in Canada and I was working back home for the next few months. I don't think that would work as a family. I think it is important for me to go to Vancouver and sit out for a bit. I had a busy year last year, and it will be good to let Jim do his thing. For the next couple of months, I will be hanging out with Nel, being a mum, and we'll have a great time.”
Monroe continues Thursday April 7 at 9pm on ITV1.

Sarah Parish plays a heart surgeon in her new tv show, Monroe.
But the role may be far harder for the actress and mum-of-one than anyone could imagine. Two years ago Sarah's daughter Ella-Jayne died when she was just eight-months-old after being born with a hole in her heart.
And now, as the specialist cardiac unit that helped little Ella through her short life is threatened with closure, Sarah, 42, tells The Sun her heartwrenching story and begs readers to do all they can to keep it open.

Sarah says:

"THE NHS wants less hospitals in England to specialise in children's heart surgery. I'm sure the Government has its reasons but now one of the country's top children's cardiac centres is under threat and that worries me.
Luckily most parents will never know what it feels like to have to rely on these services. But sadly I am one of the ones that does.
In May 2008 my daughter Ella-Jayne was born with a very severe heart defect. She had a hole in her heart and her situation was critical.
When she was born we were only 35 minutes from Southampton General Hospital. The quality of care and attention we received there was outstanding. The thought that the NHS would even consider closing such a centre of brilliance is ludicrous. It makes me furious.
When the NHS began the process of choosing which hospitals in England would carry on providing children's heart surgery, experts said the decision would be based on quality of care. So last year, all 11 of the centres were reviewed by a panel of top doctors and given a score for the quality of care they provide.
And here is why I'm worried. Southampton came 2nd but still the NHS did not recommend it should stay open. It is now one of four such centres at risk of closure so pray to God you don't have a child with a heart defect if you live in Surrey, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon... the list is endless.
The unit at Southampton treats children from many parts of the country but the reason it is not the favourite to stay open is because of the time it takes to get there. So if you live anywhere south of the M25 you are going to have to travel further, probably for a lesser standard of care. It seems crazy to me that the 2nd best cardiac unit in the country is being threatened with decommission.
Southampton has everything on site. Children growing up with congenital heart disease remain looked after in the same unit with children around their own age. This is unique in the UK. The staff deliver world class results and the hospital has a 40-year history of excellent outcomes, it came top of the last assessment in 2003 and 2nd to top in 2010.
For the Government to say it would close a centre like this is truly shocking. The cost to children in the south of England will be great indeed and the NHS will lead a hospital which sets a shining example to others.
The reviewers promised the NHS would be led by the doctors report but now it seems the quality of care has been overshadowed by the geographical analysis devised by management consultants.
I will be fighting to make sure that Southampton General hospital continues as a children's heart hospital because I believe the NHS can deliver the best care in the world, if only it rewards and supports its excellent centres.
My daughter Ella had two open heart surgeries at the hospital. She did not live for long but I have no doubt that it is thanks to the doctors at Southampton that we had the time with her that we did."

INTERVIEW:
Sarah Parish

DESCRIBE JENNY BREMNER…
She has a problem and nobody really knows what it is, I don’t think she really knows. She finds everyday situations and the people in those situations fairly irritating. She’s pretty irritated by life really. She’s chosen to go into heart surgery because it’s quite mathematical. The brain is a mystery, whereas the heart is a pump, so you’re either dead or alive, and she can deal with that.
IS SHE GOOD AT HER JOB?
She’s brilliant at it but not so great at her personal life. If she engaged in an emotional sense with patients she would find it impossible to do her job, that’s why she comes across as very stern and cold.
DOES SHE FIND HER OWN HEART DURING THE SERIES?
No, which is why I loved it! I would have had to reach for the bucket and puke if at one point we saw Jenny crying in the corner.
WAS SHE HARD TO PLAY?
Yes, I looked at Jimmy [Nesbitt] sometimes and I was so jealous because he was parading around being absolutely brilliant while Jenny’s very still. I wanted to put more into her and be slightly more vivacious. She’s not the usual part I play, but being really contained was good for me.
YOU HAVE A BABY DAUGHTER NELL. WAS IT TOUGH BEING AWAY FROM HER?
Yes, my husband [actor James Murray] and Nell were at home in Hampshire and I was up in Leeds. I thought I’d have a lot more time to get home but in fact we were all on set all the time, which was fantastic because it looks much more realistic, but it meant I didn’t get home as much. We worked it out, though. I think the longest we were apart was 10 days and I was going a bit mental, but we Skyped, which was great.
WHY DO YOU THINK MEDICAL DRAMAS ARE SO POPULAR?
A life and death scenario ever week which is believable is something you can’t have in any other drama. We are all voyeurs when it comes to things like that, people are drawn to it and are glad it’s not them.