It'll be Champagne with breakfast on Christmas Day'

TV favourite Fred Sirieix on feeling festive, finding true love and helping others do the same in First Dates Beach Club

- SHELLEY SPADONI

First Dates star Fred Sirieix is on fine form as we catch up on a video call, where he speaks to us from the study of his South East London townhouse. The French accent, the twinkle in his eye and the innate confidence are a heady mixture, and they've helped make him a household name here in his adopted country.

The straight-talking Limoges native chats happily about life with the woman he affectionately calls “Fruitcake”. They tied the knot in an idyllic ceremony at the Pattoo Castle in Jamaica in February, and judging by the smile on his face, married life is clearly suiting the 53-year-old.

“It’s going really well - we’re having a good time,” he says. “There are lots of fun conversations - and lots of silly arguments. They might be about me not wiping the counter properly, or not sweeping the floor - even though I was planning on doing it later. These kinds of things.”

Domestic disputes aside, Fred and Fruitcake work - he’s just not entirely sure why, he laughs.

“We are very different,” he explains. “We're chalk and cheese in our characters and our approach to life. But we enjoy each other’s company - and the stupidity of our own jokes! Oh, and we don’t mind farting in front of each other. That’s important.”

Fred’s now gearing up for Christmas, and his parents are flying over from France to be with him and the family. And his plans sound wonderfully decadent - just how you'd imagine the maître d’ extraordinaire to be spending Christmas Day.