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Who do you play and what can you tell us about her?

In Goodbye China I play Terri Molloy – a nurse in the local area who is married to the local sergeant (Dean Lennox Kelly). She is brought into the case as it is the hospital that she works at that the dying China (Gently's informant) is brought. She is stuck in what seems to be a loveless marriage and to be having an extra-marital affair in this period is pretty shocking.

Is it the first time you have played a murder suspect?

I have quite often been the murder suspect – on telly, of course, not real-life, and have previously murdered Lee Ingleby on screen!

I have only played a nurse once before, a 'cough and you will miss me' part in Venus. It was a lovely experience because the scene was with Peter O'Toole who is a legend in my eyes.

Have you worked with any of the cast before?

Lee Ingleby: we did the entire first series of Jimmy McGovern's The Street together in which we played husband and wife. He played my abusive husband whom I got my revenge on and bunked him off with a piece of lead piping! I have also worked with Lee on something entirely different in Craig Cash's comedy Early Doors in which we were a happy couple with very little worries in life. I love working with Lee – he is a brilliant actor and a lovely bloke.

Dean Lennox Kelly plays my hubby in Inspector George Gently. I had recently finished working with him in Liverpool on Jimmy McGovern's Moving On. When working together we always seem to get a fit of the giggles at some point, and we did have a moment again on Gently – but it's good to be able to go to work and have a giggle sometimes.

Do you enjoy period dramas?

The last period piece I did was with Maxine Peake in Anne Lister and before that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ series Land Girls. You have to think about the role in the time it was written. My character in Gently is having an affair and wants to initially leave her husband which was still perceived as a taboo thing to do at this point in history. It always makes you work a bit harder when it's not set in the here and now and I like that.

I was a little sad that I never got to drive one of the retro cars – they are nifty looking runarounds and I wouldn't mind one of them myself.

Have you filmed in the North East before?

I had never worked in the North East before. It was great to do so as my bestest mate lives in South Shields now so I got chance to catch up with her. Another great thing about the North East – the ale is bloomin' cheap.