An interview From The People:
The
Bill's Lisa Maxwell is flashing an engagement ring, but playing DS
Samantha Nixon means she's never got the time to organise her own dream
wedding!
Q --- Now you're engaged to sculptor Paul Jessup, 39, are you planning to
get married soon?
A --- We do plan to get married and, yes, we are engaged (she's wearing a
huge, square, solitaire diamond ring) but we just haven't got round to it.
I fell pregnant with my daughter Bo, who's now four, and when she was born we
were planning to get married. But then we moved house two weeks later and it
seemed like another stressful thing to do.
Q --- Will you do it this year?
A --- This year? Oh, I don't know. I think I need to get my decking done in
the garden first (laughs). The problem is that working on The Bill my
schedules are quite overwhelming at times - sometimes you are working seven
days a week - so it's quite hard to start organising something when you're
that tired.
We have attempted to plan it a couple of times then realised what a massive
thing it was and then shied away from it. Part of me does want to just run off
and do it.
Q --- So you're not planning a big dream wedding?
A --- It's not like I want to wear the dress because I get to wear lots of
lovely frocks and I've worn wedding dresses in comedy sketches. Part of me
thinks I owe it to my folks, but then they're not going to have to organise
it, are they!
Paul and I are extremely committed to each other and I don't think we need a
legal document to show that.
Q --- Why is he the one?
A --- He's very funny and very much my type. The first day we met we spent the
whole of that evening talking, stayed out all night dancing and then we went
out for breakfast and we arranged to go out for dinner the next night.
I arranged for my friend to bump into us, just to check out that I hadn't made
a huge mistake and he was as gorgeous as I thought!
Then he had to go to Thailand on business for four weeks and when he came back
he asked me to move in with him. So I did. That was seven years ago.
Q --- Are you tempted to have another baby?
A --- I'd love to. I'd just have to be in the same postcode as Paul for a
night because I'm in Wimbledon, London SW19, filming and he's up in N10,
Muswell Hill. I don't want Bo to be an only child because I was and it can be
a bit lonely at times.
Q --- You've just turned 40 - how was your birthday?
A --- I went to the Maldives to a spa resort with Paul and Bo. It was Paul's
present so that I felt really good about turning 40. On my birthday morning I
sat in a giant bath outside my room with flowers and aromatic oils floating in
the water, with strawberries and a bottle of champagne. He spoiled me.
Q --- Is 40 better than 30?
A --- Yes. I was in Los Angeles on my own when I was 30 and I felt low. I'd
got a contract with Paramount and they were trying to find a sitcom for me
because I'd been successful as a comedian in the UK (BBC1's The Lisa Maxwell
Show was a hit in 1991).
On my birthday, my friends had gone out of town so I invited a load of
strangers to a party to convince myself that I was fine. I told my mum it was
brilliant, but as soon as I put the phone down I was really sad. That was when
I decided to come home.
Q --- Didn't you miss out on the part of Daphne in Frasier when you
said you didn't like the script?
A --- Everyone asks if I regret not getting the part of Daphne, but I can't
regret anything because I wouldn't have met Paul and I certainly wouldn't have
Bo. I probably would've been a nightmare - I'd have turned out very grand and
bossed everyone around.
Q --- How did
you feel when you came home?
A --- I had got so low that the only way was up, so it was quite liberating. I
just wanted to be happy and part of that was deciding for myself that this
business is what I genuinely love and I discovered that for myself.
Q --- How did you manage to turn your life around?
A --- I did Grease at the Dominion Theatre in London for a year, than I
met Paul and had Bo and for the first couple of years of her life I didn't
work because I wanted to look after her. I got back into TV in a drama called In
Deep, along with Nick Berry, and because of that I got The Bill. So
I have been very lucky because when I came back from America I was just
concentrating on finding myself. It was such a great chance.
Q --- How do you manage to stay a size 8?
A --- I just live on my nerves! I packed up smoking in December and put on
about half a stone so I went on a diet.
But I don't eat fatty stuff anyway, because I don't like it. My treat is a
tube of wine gums. I eat what I want to, but not loads of it. And I don't do
any exercise. I just run around after a four year old.
Q --- And what about your plans for the future?
A --- My future is my daughter's future, so it would be to keep her happy and
healthy with a good self-esteem.
The Bill, ITV1, Wednesday and Thursday, 8pm