I’M LETTING THEGOOD TAMZ ROLL
‘I’VE NEVER FELT SEXIER’, SAYS ACTRESS, 51 She first found fame in EastEnders in her twenties, but actress Tamzin Outhwaite says she’s now having the time of her life in her fifties with her young boyfriend and her career
FINALLY, in her 50s, former EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite feels she is living a “complete life”.
In December, the 51-year-old actress will celebrate five years of being with filmmaker boyfriend Tom Child.
He has been her rock after she split with Lucifer actor husband Tom Ellis in 2014 after he was unfaithful. They share two children together, Florence, 14, and Marnie, 10.
She said: “I really have never felt sexier, and I think that’s because [Tom] really gets that about me, that I’m in a stage in my life where I’m really comfortable and I’m really happy.”
While there is a 20-year age difference it’s not something she worries about – as long as he keeps his beard.
Tamzin said: “It does work. It’s about energy and about connection, I think. It doesn’t matter how much you fight it – there’s 20 years between us. He just must never shave the beard off because that would be horrific for me.”
Earlier this year Tamzin had a lifechanging experience as one of the celebs who embraced the cold in Free The Fear with Wom Hof.
The first challenge saw the celebs, including Gabby Logan and Alfie Boe, strip down to their swimwear and jump into a hole cut in a frozen Italian lake.
Tamzin admitted: “You forgot sometimes that we were making a TV show because, for me, it was a life-changing experience that happened to be caught on camera. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.
“I knew I hated the cold, and I didn’t think I’d ever make friends with it, but there were moments where I felt quite comfortable in ice cold water. They were only moments, but it wasn’t as painful as I imagined cold therapy would be.”
Tamzin has balanced reality shows like Free the Fear and last year’s first series of The Masked Dancer – coming fourth as Scarecrow – with acting work since finding national fame in 1998 in EastEnders.
After leaving as Mel Owen in 2002, she returned in 2017 until being killed off in 2019. She’s also been in Red Cap and New Tricks.
Her latest acting role is in the first episode of the new series of Gold favourite Murder, They Hope, which stars Johnny Vegas and Car Share’s Sian Gibson.
And with the cost-of-living crisis, possible power blackouts this winter, a struggling UK Government and the war in Ukraine, Tamzin thinks the three-part series is just the tonic to banish our autumn blues.
She said: “Fear and anxiety about everything is addictive.
“When everybody’s talking about it,
it starts to rub off on people. If you can really let go by watching some brilliant comedy like Murder, They Hope for half an hour, that’s great.
“At the moment we do need to watch some silly, superbly written comedy that lifts your spirits and actually makes you chuckle.”
Tamzin has made her displeasure at the Tories very clear, claiming they are “completely out of their depth”.
She said: “If my kids were not so happy at their school, I would scoop them up and move abroad until some grown-ups came to run the country.”
The new series was born out of 2017’s Murder on the Blackpool Express which teamed up Benidorm’s Vegas with Sian.
He played a bus driver Terry. She played tour organiser Gemma who, together with Terry, had to help to stop a serial killer on their bus.
It was a hoot and two sequels got the green light. Terry and Gemma then became full-time private investigators in the first series of Murder, They Hope. The second series starts at the end of the month with lots more famous faces including Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Hugh Dennis, Sally Phillips and Sandi Toksvig. In the first episode, which Tamzin is in, Gemma and Terry are meant to be getting married but decide to go undercover at a therapy retreat to probe mysterious death threats.
Tamzin is Diana, one of the couples on the retreat, with Hugh Dennis of Outnumbered fame as her husband, Aaron.
She knew she wanted to do it because it was something she’d watch. She admitted: “When I watch TV, I try to only watch comedy.
“I don’t watch loads of drama because I want to laugh. Working with all those comedians in the woods dressed in these camo boiler suits during a heatwave for two full weeks was just fabulous! I absolutely loved it.”
Tamzin is also a fan of the show because she feels like all the family can watch it. She said: “There are times where you feel like you’re in an episode of Scooby Doo.
“The plot works on so many different layers. Kids can watch it on one level, and adults can watch it and there’ll be a whole load of different stuff for them. To create a family comedy murder mystery is really tricky. My kids will love this. I can’t wait for them to watch it.”
Tamzin also has fun with her character who she described as “quite sexual” and obsessed with power.
Husband Aaron is a politician. She laughed: “The only time they ever have sex is when they’re chatting about politics. They cannot actually have an intimate scenario if they think about a sexual situation – that’s a turn-off.
“So the only thing that really gets them going is discussing the elections or politics of any kind.
“For instance, when they talk about how he didn’t grant planning permission to their neighbours, that’s an extreme turn-on for them.”
● Murder, They Hope is on Monday to Wednesday from October 24 on Gold at 9pm.
When I watch TV, I try to only watch comedy
TAMZIN OUTHWAITE ON HER VIEWING HABITS