October 19, 2013 - Express.co.uk - Sarah Parish (TROLL/LADY CATRINA) INTERVIEW - Agatha Christie's Poirot

A big case for Agatha Christie's Poirot

Everyone's favourite Belgian sleuth is reunited with Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon

By: Catrin Carrucan

Published: Sat, October 19, 2013

DETECTIVE: David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and Sarah Parish as Flossie Monro [ITV ]

WHEN Saturday joins David Suchet on the set of Poirot: The Big Four in east London's Hackney Empire, he reveals that the historic theatre has a special significance to him.
"The Hackney Empire was part of the big music hall circuit, and my grandmother, Elsie, was a dancer," the 67–year–old actor recalls. "It was while she was performing her one–woman show at the Hackney Empire that a young man in the audience fell in love with her. He waited for her at the stage door and asked her if she'd like to go for a drink with him.
"She politely said no. He tried again for the next three nights, waiting for her at the stage door with no joy. On Elsie's final night at the Empire, the man, who had very little money, somehow managed to get hold of tails and a top hat and while dressed like this, he presented her with a rose. My grandmother finally gave in and agreed to a quick drink. And the rest is history – they became my grandparents, Jimmy and Elsie!
"It's a wonderfully romantic story and I'm so happy to be filming somewhere that has such an important meaning to me. I spoke to my brother (news reader John Suchet) on the way here and he said, 'you'll be surrounded by good ghosts today, David."
Adapted by Mark Gatiss and Ian Hallard, The Big Four is the first of four final Poirot episodes that will see David hanging up his famous moustache after 25 years of playing Agatha Christie's Belgian detective. The case is one of Hercule Poirot's most ambitious challenges yet and sees the super sleuth trying to solve a murder with global repercussions.
Set against the backdrop of the impending Second World War, the members of the Peace Party host a grand reception in an effort to demonstrate international unity.
But during the course of the evening, reclusive Russian grandmaster Dr Ivan Savaranof (Michael Culkin) drops down dead while playing a game of chess. Ruthless journalist Tysoe (Tom Brooke) covers the story and claims that a group of dangerous political agitators, nicknamed The Big Four, are responsible for Savaranoff's death.
"The Big Four are causing a crisis all over the world with members of the Peace Party being killed of," David says. "It's up to Poirot to uncover their identities and stop them.
"The Big Four is a challenging book to adapt as it's a very complex story, but it's a very clever and interesting adaptation, which submerges Poirot into a world of global espionage rarely seen until now."

FRIENDS: Poirot will be joined by some familiar faces in The Big Four [ITV]

The Big Four is a challenging book to adapt as it's a very complex story, but it's a very clever and interesting adaptation

Poirot will be joined by some familiar faces in The Big Four as he is reunited with his loyal friends Assistant Commissioner Japp (Philip Jackson) Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran). It is the first time the four have appeared in an episode together since 2001's Evil Under The Sun.
"This is the only time they will all be reunited. It was very emotional on set because we were together for the very last time," says David. "It was great to have them back. We may look a bit different now but all the old friendships are still there and we all stay in touch. There's still that bond. Their characters bring out different sides to Poirot."
Poirot is also aided in The Big Four by actress Flossie Monro, played by Sarah Parish. Other cast members include Patricia Hodge, James Carroll Jordan, Steven Pacey, Nicholas Burns and Simon Lowe.
"In The Big Four, I play an ageing actress who is down on her luck. Things haven't quite worked out as she hoped," says Sarah, 45, who is also currently starring in BBC1's Atlantis and ITV's Breathless. "We don't really know how Flossie fits in to the story at first but then it becomes apparent just how important to solving the mystery she is."
Having appeared in Agatha Christie Marple: Sleeping Murder in 2006, Sarah is no stranger to starring in the famous author's whodunnits. However, she admits that she is delighted that she was able to join David in one of the final Poirot films.
"I remember saying when I filmed Marple how much I would also love to do a Poirot mystery. It's a huge honour to be a part of The Big Four and to film alongside David.
"These episodes are little bits of history and should be cherished and celebrated."
AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT THE BIG FOUR, WEDNESDAY, 8PM, ITV
"THE BIG FOUR IS A CHALLENGING BOOK TO ADAPT AS IT'S A VERY COMPLEX STORY, WHICH SUBMERGES POIROT INTO A WORLD OF GLOBAL ESPIONAGE DAVID SUCHET "

January 18, 2014 - Express.co.uk - Sarah Parish INTERVIEW - Dates, Parties, Being a noisy neighbor

Atlantis actress Sarah Parish on dates, parties and being a noisy neighbour

THE Cutting It and Peak Practice actress on her ideal weekend with husband James Murray, parties and moving into a bigger house

By: Vicki Power

Published: Sat, January 18, 2014

Actress Sarah Parish lives in a cottage in Hampshire with her husband and their son, Nell [GETTY]

After finding fame in Peak Practice, Sarah Parish went on to star in Cutting It, Pillars Of The Earth, Mistresses and Atlantis. The 45-year-old actress lives in Hampshire with her husband, Primeval star James Murray, and their four-year-old daughter, Nell. She says:
“Friday nights are exciting. We’ve usually been busy in London all week and we’ll come back to our cottage in Hampshire. We’ll put Nell to bed, the babysitter will come, and we’ll go to the village pub, The Yew Tree.
"It’s got a big open fire and the whole village is there; everybody has a few beers and catches up. We’ll come home at 9.30pm for a late supper and to watch a bit of telly.
“On Saturday we’ll probably go shopping then afterwards walk our dog, Jake. Then we’ll come home, maybe read scripts and watch a film with Nell.

The 45-year-old actress loves to have big company at the weekends [GETTY]

Next year we’re moving to a bigger house. It’s right on the River Itchen, so Jim can fish and we can have more guests

Sarah Parish

“In the evening we’ll go to friends’ houses or have people over. Sometimes we’re pushing people out the door at 3am then getting up at 7am with Nell on Sunday.
"Jim will read the paper and I’ll potter about, then we’ll blow away the cobwebs on a walk.
“Next year we’re moving to a bigger house down the road. It’s right on the River Itchen, so Jim can fish and we can have more guests – we’re very sociable, and it’s great for Nell to have other kids around.
"We like a full house. We’re noisy neighbours!”
Sarah is a founder of Barretoned (barretoned.com), a ballet-inspired fitness class

March 9, 2014 - Express.co.uk - Sarah Parish INTERVIEW - Wants to join Downton Abbey, Twenty Twelve

Actress Sarah Parish: 'I'd love to join Downton Abbey'

SNEAKY, spiteful or just plain sadistic, Sarah Parish has built a career on being the woman we love to hate. But the actress would trade it all for the chance to wear a pinny in Downton Abbey, as James Rampton reports

By: James Rampton

Published: Sun, March 9, 2014

Actress Sarah Parish admits that she would love to play in Downton [GETTY]

Sarah Parish can’t keep the smile off her face.

 “Just this morning,” she beams, “I was in the car on the way up from Hampshire thinking,
‘I really do have a super life.’” The 45-year-old actress, who shares a country home with her actor husband James Murray and their four-year-old daughter Nell, couldn’t be happier with her latest career break.

“I keep getting these roles as horrible bitches – which is weird because I think I’m quite nice in real life – and I’d been evil for so long that I really wanted to do something funny. Then this came along and I was absolutely thrilled to get it.”

“This” is the new BBC sitcom W1A. The eagerly awaited follow-up to the Olympics satire Twenty Twelve, it sees the Beeb boldly taking aim at itself. Bungling boss Ian Fletcher (Downton’s Hugh Bonneville) moves across from the Olympic Deliverance Commission to a new post as the BBC’s “Head of Values”. Other familiar faces include PR from hell Siobhan Sharpe (Jessica Hynes), while the scripts promise to poke more fun at today’s culture of management by bluff, bluster and bickering. It’s a world that will be familiar to many, where the more people talk, the less they say.
“I play a ferociously ambitious BBC executive called Anna Rampton,” reveals Sarah. “She’s one of those people you get a lot in the corporate world, who try to intimidate you with their lack of communication. Anna hasn’t a clue what she’s doing but she has learned the very clever trick that if you say very little in a fierce way, people will always think you’re right. And if you let other people babble on, they’ll end up messing up before you do. Anna is a very high-powered player who moves jobs a lot before she gets found out.”

Given that we last saw Sarah in BBC1’s fantasy drama Atlantis as Queen Pasiphae, a wicked tyrant who condemned her own daughter to a grisly death, even a scheming executive counts as light relief.
Interviewed on set, Sarah certainly looks the part in Anna’s dress-to-kill uniform of pale silk shirt, smart blue trousers and impeccably coiffed brown hair (as he wanders past, W1A’s producer mutters: “I keep thinking I should be pitching ideas for new series to Sarah, she looks so convincing.”)
But there the resemblance ends. We’re meeting in a make-believe BBC office called the Frankie Howerd Room, where the walls are emblazoned with the legendary comic’s catchphrases including “Titter ye not!” – an injunction that Sarah happily disregards.

She roars with laughter, in fact, especially when asked if she might like join Mr Bonneville in the cast of Downton Abbey. “Oh I’d love to!” she trills. “I saw Julian Fellowes at a charity carol concert last Christmas. I nestled up to him and gave him the ‘Downton eye’, but I’ve yet to be cast, either upstairs or downstairs. I’ll go either way – I don’t mind. Though actually, as I’ve played a lot of regal parts lately, I think I’d like to go downstairs.”

Sarah plays in BBC's sitcom, W1A [GETTY]

I wouldn’t relocate – I don’t have a dream of working in Hollywood.

Sarah Parish

With memorable roles in the likes of Atlantis, Mistresses, Merlin, Doctor Who, Cutting It and Monroe, Sarah has carved out quite a career for herself in the UK. So would she ever fancy her chances on the other side of the pond?
“I’m the wrong side of 13!” she jokes. “I wouldn’t relocate – I don’t have a dream of working in Hollywood. Anyway, every time I get a part out there, I get cast at least 10 years older than I am. When I made Hatfields & McCoys with Kevin Costner, I played a character who ended up aged 71.
“Basically, I’ve never had a great time in Hollywood because it’s so age-obsessed. As a female, you simply can’t relax into your acting because it’s all far too youth-based. Having worked on both sides, I think the British industry is much less ageist. The UK feels more hospitable towards older actresses.”And there’s one more very good reason why Sarah will be staying put. “Jim and I are not in the position where we can pick and choose our roles, but for our daughter’s sake we try to make sure that one of us is always at home.” (James, 39, has appeared in the likes of Primeval and Death in Paradise, and later this year joins the cast of fantasy series Defiance on the US cable channel Syfy.)
Four-year-old Nell is Sarah and James’ second child. Their first, daughter Ella-Jayne, was born prematurely in 2008 with a heart defect, and sadly she lived for only eight months.
In her memory, the couple have since raised funds for the children’s intensive-care unit at Southampton General Hospital.
Not surprisingly, Sarah is deeply serious about her responsibilities as a mother, and for once the laughter stops. “Recently I was working with someone whose children don’t watch television at all during the week,” she says.
“That made me think, ‘Oh gosh, now I feel like a bad parent,’ so I’m trying to wean Nell off the Disney Channel and back on to CBeebies because I think their programmes are more educational.”
Then, like working mums the world over, Sarah admits to feeling guilty that she is ever away from hearth and home at all. “You do constantly feel like that as a woman,” she says, “and everything becomes a compromise. You get in after working hard and you feel so guilty for not being there that you work even harder at home. But you can’t have it all – of course you can’t – so I always feel grateful for what I’ve got, rather than wanting anything else. Although I try to pack in as much as I can.”
 

She certainly does. As well as her flourishing acting career, Sarah co-owns a ballet-based exercise centre in west London and she has ambitions as a writer – though she admits that putting pen to paper can be an almighty struggle. “I’d literally do all my accounting, clean the entire house and scrub the loo till it gleamed before sitting down to write,” she says. “I was intending to write a sitcom in Los Angeles while Jim had a job out there, but before I’d even opened my pad, I got offered a part in Poirot. So I thought, ‘Stuff the writing – I’ll do the Poirot!’”
If Sarah gets her wish, the writing might have to stay on hold for a while longer – at least if the public takes W1A to its heart the way it did Twenty Twelve. “It’s a joy to come to work every day and do such brilliant scenes,” she says. “It’s such a shame the shoot only lasts four weeks. Hopefully it will be re-commissioned – unless Anna has already moved on to ITV. But I hope she stays at the BBC – I’m enjoying her so much, I don’t want it to end.”
So who has Sarah based this tough-nut character on? The actress laughs off the idea of revealing her sources. “Did I base her on anyone? You’re sailing close to the wind there,” she chuckles. “There are three or four people I took little bits from to create the character of Anna – but if I told you who, I’d have to kill you.”
Concluding that life could hardly be sweeter than it is right now, Sarah reflects that, “Of course, you never know when it will all dry up. But for the moment, I’m loving it.”
W1A starts on BBC2 soon.

March 29, 2014 - Express.co.uk - Sarah Parish INTERVIEW - Fitness and having children

Sarah Parish: 'After two kids your tummy is never the same'

SARAH Parish on ballet inspired fitness classes and wanting flatter stomach

By: Vicki Power

Published: Sat, March 29, 2014

Sarah Parish on ballet inspired fitness classes and wanting flatter stomach[PH]

You can do a lot with exercise, hydration, facials and treatments like lasers without having to resort to cosmetic surgery. A dermatologist took five years off me with laser treatments

Sarah Parish

Would you ever have plastic surgery? 
You can do a lot with exercise, hydration, facials and treatments like lasers without having to resort to cosmetic surgery. A dermatologist took five years off me with laser treatments.
Which beauty products do you swear by? 
Crème de la Mer. I swear by it now my skin is older and more dry. I use Evening Elixir by Face Matters as a night serum and a La Roche-Posay 50+ sunscreen.
What’s always in your make-up bag?
Perricone MD No Foundation foundation. It takes away imperfections and evens out skin tone.
Do you have a top tip?
I have to sleep at least eight hours a night. I also drink a lot of water and try to exercise once a day. I’m part-owner of a company called Barretoned, a ballet-based exercise class.
If you could change one part of your body, what would it be? 
I think I would have a flatter stomach. After having two kids, you never get the same tummy you had before.
Which other women do you find beautiful? 
I like strong-looking women like Rene Russo, Sophia Loren and Lauren Bacall.
How do you pamper yourself? 
I head to Limewood, the most incredible hotel and spa in the New Forest.
What’s the most you’ve ever spent on an item of clothing?
I wanted the coat Richard E. Grant wears in Withnail And I. Costume designer Andrea Galer makes them and my husband bought one for me.
How would you describe your style?
I try out lots of different styles: boho one day, classic the next. I love wide trousers and a tailored shirt – good lines and nothing floaty.
Have you had any fashion disasters? 
Loads! I went to the press night of We Will Rock You in knee-length brown suede boots, a denim skirt and a see-through top. It was awful.

Sarah is one of the founders of ballet-inspired fitness class Barretoned. Visit barretoned.com.