ENJOYING FAMILY TIME IN SUNNY SARDINIA HERMIONE NORRIS TALKS ABOUT THE LONG-AWAITED RETURN OF ‘COLD FEET’ AND HOW HER CHILDREN NOW TAKE CENTRE STAGE

Hermione, her husband Simon Wheeler and their children Wilf and Hero enjoy a scenic stroll while on holiday in Sardinia (above), a time to regroup after the actress spent six months away on projects, including the long-awaited return series of Cold Feet. “It’s lovely not to have to think about anything apart from, ‘Which pool shall we go to?’” she says of their sunshine break

ermione Norris says she’s one of those people Cold Feet established Hermione’s career and put back projects in Leeds and Manchester – first on Hwho doesn’t like to look back. Yet that’s exactly her firmly on the map. But her husband, TV writer In the Club, the Kay Mellor drama about parents-to- what she found herself doing recently on the set of and producer Simon Wheeler, and their children be, then on Cold Feet. Away for months from their Cold Feet, the hit ITV series that last appeared on Wilf, 12, and Hero, eight, now take centre stage. Somerset home, this is the first decent stretch of our screens in 2003 and is due to return this autumn. “It’s all about them,” she says. “They are the most time they’ve spent together for a while. “It felt like only yesterday, but it first started 20 important people in my life.” “It’s lovely not to have to think about anything years ago, so you keep remembering where you We’re chatting in a shady spot of Forte Village, apart from, ‘Which pool shall we go to?’” Hermione were at that time,” she says of being back on set. the luxurious resort in Santa Margherita di Pula, smiles as her children intermittently pop up, 36 “It was a totally different life – I wasn’t married, I Sardinia, where Hermione, 49, has come to escape dripping in towels, to say hello. didn’t have children. But I’d much rather be where with Simon and the kids for a well-timed break. For At first, she didn’t want to revisitCold Feet, which I am now than where I was back then, any day.” the past six months, she’s been working on back-to- began as a pilot in 1996 and ran to five series from

HELLO1441p036-040.indd 36 23/7/16 0:18 ‘I didn’t want to undo anything we’d done – Cold Feet was so loved. If we made it, it had to be really good’ T: MIGUELINA. T: CHILDREN

1998-2003. In fact, she refused when writer Mike spoken and quick to laugh. She confesses to being of teenage girls, James Nesbitt’s character Adam Bullen asked her last year. But the pull of her “introverted, shy, a naturally private person” and has been living in Singapore with his son, and Pete character Karen Marsden, the uptight former jokes that people think she’s posh because of her (John Thomson) and Jenny (Fay Ripley) are alcoholic mother and divorcee, was too strong. name and good posture from years of ballet training. together. The actors have moved on too. “I didn’t want to undo anything we’d done – the “It was weird when we met for the first read series was so loved. If we made it, it had to be really A REUNION OF OLD FRIENDS through, but it was comfortable,” she says. “Usually good. But Karen is mine, you know?” she says, her She has kept in touch with the other Cold Feet actors in those situations, you’ve never met anyone before hand on her heart. “She’s mine.” over the years – she’s godmother to John Thomson’s and you have to set up the story, the characters. But Hermione plays frosty, aloof and acerbic very daughter Olivia – but was nervous about them all in this case, the foundations had already been laid.” well – her character Ros in the spy drama Spooks is being together again after so long. Their characters Helen Baxendale, whose character Rachel V another example – but in person, she’s warm, quietly have moved on 13 years – Karen is now the mother died in a car crash in the last series, was greatly SWIMSUIT: ELIZABETH HURLEY BEACH. DRESS: MIGUELINA. CUFF: PEBBLE LONDON. EARRINGS: MEROLA (INSET) HERMIONE’S TOP & SKIR SWIMSUIT: CARAMEL HERO’S OUTFIT: MARIE CHANTAL. EMMA WILLIS. WILF’S OUTFIT: MELISSA ODABASH. SIMON’S SHIRT: PEBBLE LONDON. HAT: PENDANT:

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the horizon, Hermione is pressure’s off,” she says. off,” pressure’s “You don’t care as much. care don’t “You With her 50th birthday on There’s a strength in that” a strength There’s in a “reflective” time. “The in a “reflective” in my life’ in my

most important people

‘It’s all about Simon and and Simon about all ‘It’s our children. They’re the They’re our children. 38 HELLO1441p036-040.indd 38 ’S SHIRT: EMMA WILLIS ’S SHIRT: . EARRINGS: MEROLA LONDON. (BELOW RIGHT) HERMIONE’S DRESS: MELISSA ODABASH. NECKLACE: PEBBLE CUFF: SIMON Hermione keeps her cool while daughter Hero, eight, and son Wilf, 12, make merry (above). Her children are, she says, like “chalk and cheese” – Wilf has a sensitive side and Hero is a gregarious tomboy. Though marriage and kids weren’t really on her radar before meeting Simon (together, below right), his commitment to family life was compelling. “That’s why I married Simon – because he was sure, he knew what he wanted,” she says

missed. “It was like, ‘Where’s our She had never been particularly Helen?’ But I totally respect why she interested in getting married. “It didn’t want to do it. She didn’t want wasn’t really my focus. It just wasn’t. to be a ghost, or a voice.” I didn’t grow up with that dream. I Hermione feels a “huge weight think some people find that quite of responsibility” for the series, but weird. But for me, if it happened, has no idea how it might be received. great, but if it didn’t…” she shrugs. Nor is she likely to find out as she When it did happen, however, it never reads reviews. “I know what happened quickly, with the couple I’m like, a bad review would upset marrying a few months later in a me,” she says. candlelit ceremony in the Tower of Fame doesn’t sit comfortably with London in December 2002. The her and she found the recognition subject of children was raised early. that came with starring in a hit series “In relationships in the past, I’d alarming at first. “You can be walking never have dared bring that up,” she down the street and someone will says. “But that’s why I married Simon just shout, ‘Cold Feet!’” she winces. – because he was sure, he knew what “Then people stare at you and you he wanted. Everything was very open, don’t quite know why.” there were no games. It enabled me Perhaps that’s why she likes living to be honest, feel safe and be heard.” in a remote area of rural Somerset, She describes her children as surrounded by sheep. “chalk and cheese” – her son Wilf has a sensitive side, while her A WHIRLWIND ROMANCE daughter Hero is a gregarious Hermione was 35 and at the height tomboy. She wells up describing the of her success when she met Simon impact they’ve had on her life. on the set of Wire in the Blood, where “I had no idea,” she says, about he was working on production. becoming a mother. “Nothing could “I’d just returned from filming an have prepared me for the love. It’s episode of Cold Feet in Australia and the most profound thing. I don’t was thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got think I knew what love was until I no normal life,’ and there he was,” had my children. I’ve loved, but not she says with a smile. “There was like that. Simon feels the same – our something of a recognition. I knew children are our passion.” 39 that if I got engaged in it, it would When they were young, the V become quite serious.” family had a nanny and the (LEFT) DRESS & HAT: MELISSA ODABASH. EARRINGS & CUFFS: MEROLA LONDON. (ABOVE RIGHT) HERMIONE’S SWIMSUIT: ELIZABETH HURLEY BEACH MELISSA ODABASH. EARRINGS & CUFFS: MEROLA LONDON. (ABOVE RIGHT) HERMIONE’S SWIMSUIT: (LEFT) DRESS & HAT:

HELLO1441p036-040.indd 39 23/7/16 0:18 ‘I didn’t know what love was until I had my children’

Paddling at sunset (above), it’s easy to see why Hermione says Hero is in “seventh heaven” on holiday. Their usual habitat is the Somerset countryside, where they moved from London four years ago. It’s where Wlif and Hero can walk the dogs, play in the garden and visit the sea. “They have such a different life to the one I had,” says the actress

‘COLD FEET’: THEN AND NOW children would accompany Hermione on she doubts she would have been any good acting jobs. Now she and Simon – who runs had she continued. “I probably would have an independent production company, been in the corps de ballet in Germany or writing and producing dramas and something,” she jokes. documentaries including ITV’s Kingdom – Instead, she discovered a passion for share the childcare between them. drama. She went on to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY performing in the theatre and episodically The family moved from London to Somerset on TV until landing the role of Karen in the four years ago (keeping a place in London), pilot of Cold Feet in 1996. There’s been talk of where the children can walk their two dogs, another series if this one goes well. play in the garden and visit the sea. She’s “But even if it never goes again, I’m really aware of the huge privilege in which they’re glad to have done this and I’m pleased to growing up – “They have such a different life have revisited this piece of work with these to the one I had, they really do” – but she people,” she says. wants them to have the things she didn’t. Hermione turns 50 next year and while “I want them to be able to be who they are proud of her achievements, she acknowledges – to feel secure and grow up without the that it’s a “reflective” time for her. distraction of divorce or worries,” she says. “I “I can’t believe I’m this age, but I’ve always want them to just think about themselves, looked forward to it, both as an actress and as Cold Feet was hugely popular when it launched in without worrying about the small stuff.” a woman,” she says, stepping out of the shade 1998 (above). The team is reuniting (below) to catch Hermione was born in London, the and into the afternoon sunshine. “There’s a up with the characters 13 years after the last episode second of four siblings (she has two sisters weight of experience, the pressure’s off. I’ve and a brother) and grew up “all over the been lucky: I’ve had children, I’m married, place”, first in Essex, then in Derbyshire. Her I’ve had a very nice career… and you just mother, a health visitor, and her late father, a don’t care as much, you know what I H businessman, divorced when she was four mean? There’s a strength in that.” and she describes her childhood as “chaotic”. “I was one of four and my mum was a INTERVIEW: ROSALIND POWELL single parent, so we had to bring ourselves PHOTOS: TREVOR LEIGHTON up, really,” she recalls. Her upbringing taught STYLING: ARABELLA BOYCE her that: “You have to look after yourself, you HAIR & MAKE-UP: IAN MCINTOSH have to be responsible.” For further information on Forte Village, visit This independence was reinforced when fortevillageresort.com. Seven nights cost from £10,146 for she won a scholarship to a boarding ballet a family of four booked through Classic Collection (classic- school, where she was a pupil from the age of collection.co.uk) based on two adults and two children 40 staying in a family bungalow half-board, including 11 to 18, which she describes as “a cross return flights from London to Cagliari and private between being in the army and a nunnery.” It transfers. taught her discipline and focus, she says, but ADDITIONAL PHOTOS: ITV/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

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