'My Life Is Happy CHAOS'

Emilia Fox talks to Nathalie Whittle about the joy of gardening in her pyjamas, being ready for romance – and why she’s feeling her fittest and most fabulous in her forties

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With her glossy hair and perfectly manicured nails, you might be fooled into believing Emilia Fox, 44, is an actress who demands the red carpet treatment wherever she goes. Think again. It’s 7 am when she arrives at our cover shoot, make-up free and wet hair scraped back into a ponytail, having agreed to squeeze us in before a busy day of filming for the new series (and her 15th) of BBC One’s Silent Witness. Her next filming location? A rubbish dump in High Wycombe – and believe it or not, it doesn’t faze her one bit. “The worst place I’ve filmed?” she says. “In front of a men’s urinal – we had such a laugh!” It’s that down-to-earth attitude that surely makes her one of the most likeable women on prime-time TV.

Emilia was born into acting royalty: her parents are actors Joanna David and Edward Fox, and her uncle, three cousins and brother are all in the industry too. But it’s clear that Emilia has carved out a name for herself irrespective of her family name. Not only does she have a third series of Sky One drama Delicious on the way, her latest role is in new eight-part ITV thriller Strangers. Set in Hong Kong, she plays British consulate Sally, who comes to the assistance of a man, Jonah (John Simm), seeking answers about his wife’s unexpected death. And when Emilia isn’t in character? She’s Mum to seven-year old Rose, whose father is actor and campaigner Jeremy Gilley; the couple split when Rose was a baby. This really is a woman who does it all.

When Rose was very little, I made a habit of turning down roles that took me abroad, but when Strangers came up, I took a leap of faith and said yes.