HAPPY FEET
Hermione Norris loved returning to her role as Karen in hit ITV show.. and the actress says she’d be happy to be at least a little like the feisty character
ACTRESS Hermione Norris says she’s nothing like the characters she portrays – although there’s one she has a real soft spot for.
She has played a host of tough women, including grappling with KGB agents in Spooks and hunting down criminals in Wire in the Blood.
But it’s “flawed” recovering alcoholic Karen Marsden, her character in Cold Feet, who she admires most.
Norris said: “I’m nothing like Karen but I’d like to be her because I think she’s an impressive person.
“Clearly she’s much more intelligent and much more together than me – and her mind seems quite organised, which I rather envy.”
The character shot Norris to fame in 1998, just as she was on the brink of quitting the profession.
She returned to the role last year in the triumphant comeback of the ITV series.
Norris said: “Oddly, people always expect you to be like the roles you portray – and in my case, that’s often been quite tough, ballsy characters. In fact, I’m not at all like that – I’m introvert, quite shy and reserved.” She and the rest of the cast – including Robert Bathurst, who plays her buttoned-up ex-husband David, Fay Ripley and John Thomson (aka outspoken Jenny and hapless Pete), and James Nesbitt as loveable charmer Adam – are filming the seventh series of the show, which will be screened later this year. Norris, whose other roles have included Ros Myers in Spooks, DCI Carol Jordan in Wire in the Blood and Roanna in parenting drama In the Club, admitted: “I had massive reservations about returning to Cold Feet because I didn’t want to risk spoiling something millions of people had clearly loved. “It was a lovely surprise that it was as good and well received as it was, and great to be working again with everyone. We have such a bond.” Middle-class mother-of-three Karen has emerged
‘I always fear I’ll never get another part once the last one’s finished’
as a newly liberated divorcee who’s already kicked two would-be suitors into touch.
Norris said: “Karen and I have just said hello to each other again and now who knows where she’ll go?
“I feel slightly horrified wondering what writer Mike Bullen is going to do with her.
“I do like Karen though – you have to like a character to play them or at least have a certain compassion for them – because she’s a mature, complicated, intelligent woman.
“It’s brilliant that parts like that are being written for women.
“I think the public warm to her because she’s a very well-rounded character, who’s flawed, bright and quite a raw person.”
Norris, 50, who stars in new film Love of My Life with Anna Chancellor, John Hannah, James Fleet and Greg Wise, is also blissfully happy at home.
She and Wire in the Blood writer Simon Wheeler, seven years her junior, married in 2002 and live in Dorset with their two children, 12-year-old Wilf and Hero, nine.
The actress said: “I’ve found my soulmate. Simon’s an amazing partner and brilliant dad.
“It changes you completely being a mum, because when you have children you realise they’re the be-alland-end-all – but it’s balancing a huge amount being an actor and having to work away as well as bring them up. “I couldn’t do it without Simon. I don’t think the age difference between us matters or makes any difference.
“He’s definitely the grown-up in our relationship, which was part of my attraction to him, because he’s very solid, secure, and with his feet on the ground.
“I’m the more emotional one who cries and laughs easily.”
Turning 50 in December held no qualms for Norris, who said: “I’ve always looked forward to being a woman in my 50s because there’s a certain liberation in getting older.
“You’ve gained enough confidence to care less about what other people think, and you hope you’re older and wiser.”
But that confidence doesn’t extend to her looks.
She admitted: “I wouldn’t ever get my kit off on screen.
“Believe me, if I loved my body, I’d be flashing it all over the place but I honestly don’t.
“If I look good, it’s truly all an illusion. I don’t have time to exercise and just walk a lot and try to eat healthily, so that’s the limit of my efforts on it.
“At the end of the day, I’m sure I suffer the same insecurities as most women – and, on top of that, I also have the insecurity of being an actor. I always fear I’ll never get another part once the last one’s finished.”
That aside, Norris is philosophical about the future.
She said: “Life’s an ongoing journey and I just want a nice, gentle, easy life. I’m not into making it complicated.
“I feel very blessed to have the partner, children and career that I have. I’ve learnt over the years that ‘what will be will be’ and it’s best not to get your knickers in a knot about things.
“You just have to enjoy the ride, accept you’re not in control, take whatever opportunities come your way and find joy wherever you can.
“I want to see my children flourish - I’d regard that as my greatest achievement.” ● Love of My Life is out in cinemas now and available on digital download.