Tamzin interviews

TAMZIN ON LOVE, FAME AND THE AVON JOB
Mar 16 2003

TAMZIN Outhwaite sparkles like a 1950s movie starlet as the glamorous new face of Avon Colour. But today she looks more East End than Hollywood, breezing in wearing jeans, trainers, a Stussy t-shirt and sheep- skin jacket.
She's late, and she knows it. "Sorry, I was out last night. It was only until 11.30pm, but I can't do it any more," she gabbles. "I need 12 hours sleep nowadays."
And where was she? I cautiously ask. "Out gigging with my boyfriend," she replies coyly.Ah, the elusive "boyfriend". Where better to start?

MEL OF A DIFFERENCE: She looks a far cry from her rundown, emotionally battered Eastenders character

The "is-she, isn't-she?" dating question has left Tamzin irritated - and everyone else scratching their heads lately. A wall of stony silence usually meets every effort to find out about Tamzin's love life.
Speculation about a break-up and reunion with dance DJ Steve "Da Force" Ellington has been flying for months without any firm conclusion either way, especially after she recently went on holiday alone to Dubai.
But today the truth emerges at last. "I'm still with Steve, and have been for the past two years. I'm very happy," says Tamzin, 32.
She will divulge little else about her personal life, saying: "That's all I'm comfortable with. We're taking it as it comes. We've no plans."
It may all be forced out through gritted teeth, but somehow you can sense her happiness. Her skin is glowing, her eyes are shining. She looks a picture of health, and a far cry from run-down, emotionally battered Mel Healey in EastEnders - the role she is still best known for.
Since walking out on the soap last year, after nearly four years playing the Essex girl with attitude, Tamzin has pulled on big boots and a uniform to star in two series of Red Cap. She also won critical acclaim for her role as a downtrodden single mother of a tearaway son in the powerful drama Out of Control.
BUT as the new face of Avon Colour - the company's premium makeup brand - she is finally leaving the weary world of Walford a long way behind.
"After playing so many unglamorous roles, I've really wanted and needed to dress up and look ladylike. Not wearing make-up is quite natural to me, but it was a lovely feeling to get made up like a Hollywood star.
"I grew up around boys and was a real tomboy when I was young. My mum was always having to say, 'Make sure you moisturise', and stuff like that. She was my saving grace."
It's funny Tamzin mentions her mother, Anna - for she happened to be an Avon Lady while the actress grew up in Ilford. "Avon seems second nature to me. Although there was a stigma over the 'ding-dong' at the door, I have really fond memories of that time in my life.
"When I got home from school there'd be all these women in the house and it was very sociable, like a Tupperware party. It may have been seen as naff in the past, but its new image is fresh and trendy. I've got all their stuff in my bag."
As the face of the firm's make-up range, Tamzin is reported to be earning a cool £250,000 in a £7million campaign. She will feature in the brochures and advertising, and pouting Tamzins will beam down from billboards across the country.
"Do you know, there are 160,000 Avon sellers?" As an afterthought, she adds: "Actually, I wouldn't mind turning up on someone's step as an Avon Lady, just to see the reaction."
It's an exciting venture for Tamzin, whose only other foray into modelling was for a new range of fashionwear for Debenhams last year.
But that's not to say she has turned her back on the not-so-glam television roles. In her new drama Final Demand, which will be screened this spring, Tamzin plays a bored accounts clerk who dreams up a scheme to make a fortune by luring the right man.
"I play a lot of good girls, but this is great because my character is a bit twisted. She's a tough little cookie and a bit of a floozy who thinks nothing of using a few people on the way to making some cash."
THOUGH this all sounds very Mel, one major departure from EastEnders saw Tamzin have to perform her first ever sex scene. "I never get shy, but this was a little bit different," she grimaces.
"During the bed scene, I've got a vest on, so I'm not naked, but it was still a big deal for me.
"In EastEnders, when you kiss you don't even kiss properly, let alone in bed. But this was full-on snogging.
"He had no top on, and I had the covers around me, and kept asking, 'Can you see anything?' But it's OK. I think it'll only be on screen for a few seconds."
After being voted the sexiest woman on TV for three years running, the emerging pattern of Tamzin getting her kit off on-screen is perhaps no surprise.
In Red Cap, her character Sergeant Jo McDonagh also had to strip off. "Oh God, that was horrible. It was on closed set, but I had to strip down to these big pants and hideous sports bra. It wasn't meant to be sexual, just a reminder that she's a woman in a man's world."
To prepare for her role in Red Cap, Tamzin immersed herself in the male-dominated Army, and even went on a boot-camp for a week.
"The soldiers liked taking the mickey out of me," she smiles. "To them I was just the girl off the telly, and they didn't treat me any differently.
"But I was pleased about that - I didn't want them to tread on eggshells just because I'm famous."
She adds: "They laughed at my beret, saying it wasn't old enough or worn enough to be a Red Cap, and they kept calling it my helicopter landing pad. I just had to laugh. They were all boys on set, and you have to join in the banter."
Despite her roles outside Albert Square being widely applauded, Tamzin - who lives in North London - still cannot quite shake off the ghost of Mel.
"I never realised how much you become public property when you're in something like EastEnders," she sighs.
"I enjoyed playing Mel. It was three- and-a-half years of different emotions, different hairstyles, and different men almost every day. It was great, but people don't seem able to draw the line between the real you and your character. They would stop me in the supermarket and call me Mel, for heaven's sake.
"Thank goodness I didn't play a character who got loads of abuse in the streets. Women actually identified with Mel - most said they fancied Steve Owen, and they'd be like, 'Oh, don't leave your husband, he's lovely'." Nowadays, while the pressure has eased somewhat, she is still recognised all the time. "People call me Tamzin more now, which astounds me. I ask how they know my real name, and they say, 'Because you're everywhere'. And I think, 'Oh yes, I am aren't I?' But it's still a weird concept to me."
It is dealing with the downside of fame that has led Tamzin to be so secretive about her personal life. "There are bigger things going on in the world than whatever is happening in my private life," she insists.
It seemed she had met her match with TV producer Marty Benson - the fiance she was with for more than three years. But after speaking openly about them, the relationship broke down in December 2000, and she has vowed never to open her heart again.
And despite admitting she is still seeing Steve Ellington - Ali G's sidekick DJ -- she says: "When you're in a relationship keep it quiet - I've learned that much. Whatever you say, you're going to involve the other person in the limelight. And that can be a cruel thing. By the time your words are made public, who knows how things might have changed?"
But her silence seems to create all the more interest, and while she was on holiday alone in Dubai, photographers reportedly hid in the bushes waiting to snap her. "I was perfectly happy, having some peace and quiet away from London and parties to study some scripts," she says. "But people refused to believe I didn't have a secret bloke with me. Who was he supposed to be...The Invisible Man?
"Actually, Clare from Steps was staying at the same hotel with a group of friends, and sometimes I would have dinner with them, but mostly I was happy with my own company."
Tamzin is undoubtedly proud of her strong independent streak, nurtured by her parents Anna and Colin.
"Mum and Dad taught me to be my own person," she says. "I admire them for their happiness and the way they shared it with their kids."
While Tamzin is keeping her long-term future plans under wraps, she is certainly in high spirits herself.
"Since I've finished my recent filming, I've really been taking care of myself. I've been having lots of massages and spas - just thinking about me.
"And it's been lovely to have the chance to go back to the gym. On set you have three meals a day and there's no time to exercise, so you can't burn it off. But I feel good now, and I've been having lots of lie-ins - which has been great."
So might Tamzin be thinking about bringing a family of her own into the world? "I do want to be a mother," she says. "I've always said that and still do. The most wonderful thing I'll ever do in my life is have children."
You get the impression that perhaps soon might be the right time.