For current articles and information on James and Sarah from February 2008 onwards, go to PAGE TWO.

(please note, that in some cases, not all of the original article has been reprinted here, only the segments that relate to James and Sarah's relationship.)

She plays a man-eating, homewrecking mistress on TV - but in real-life Sarah Parish is thrilled to be starting a family with her first baby.

A spokeswoman for the 39-year-old actress said last night she is "delighted". And the mum-to-be has been happily showing off her "little bump" while out shopping for maternity clothes in London.

Sarah, who married Cutting It co-star James Murray, 33, in December, will give birth in the summer. The news will surprise five million viewers who tuned in to see Sarah play sex-mad GP Katie in BBC1's new, red-hot series Mistresses.

However, Sarah has made no secret of her long-held desire to have children - but feared she'd never meet Mr Right after a string of disastrous relationships.

She once said: "In my dreams, I'd love to meet somebody who I fall in love with and have a baby."

She plays a GP who has an affair with a dying patient in Mistresses, BBC1's latest glossy drama, but Sarah Parish's off-screen life is rather more conventional.

For the 39-year-old actress is expecting her first baby with fellow actor James Murray, whom she married last month.

This week Sarah, who has starred in Doctor Who and Cutting It since making her name in the cult Boddingtons beer adverts in the Nineties, could be found shopping for maternity outfits in Mamas & Papas on Regent Street.

Says a friend of Somerset-born Sarah, who quit London last year to renovate an old mill with Murray, 32, in rural Hampshire: "Sarah is absolutely over the moon. The pregnancy has made her very happy indeed."

(snipped from the main article)
Marriage is a word uppermost in Parish’s private world right now. Since giving this interview, she has tied the knot with her long-term partner, actor James Murray, in a festive wedding in Hampshire on December 15.
Before the event, the bride-to-be admitted to a mixture of huge excitement and anxiety.
“I’ve not exactly turned into Bridezilla, but it’s been a pretty stressful time,” she said.
“You do find yourself becoming Monica from Friends. I have a big file on everything, and I’ve become slightly anal about things. I know way too much about flowers and veils!”
(Read the full article about Sarah's new series 'Mistresses' HERE)

Sarah Parish only tied the knot with her partner, Primeval actor James Murray, a matter of weeks ago, but she admits she's extremely glad she's out of her "Bridezilla" phase and can get back to normal.

"It was pretty stressful actually. You do find yourself becoming slightly Monica from Friends," she says, remembering the planning stages of the wedding.

"I had a file and was slightly anal about everything! I know far too much about flowers and veils and things like that."

As a blissfully happy newlywed, the last thing you would expect Sarah to be discussing is adultery, but thanks to her new series, Mistresses, that is exactly her topic of conversation today.

"Infidelity fills me with fear, as it does most people," she admits. "There are always people that you know of that are with someone and then meet someone else. Throughout my life I've met a fair few in that situation. I remember very clearly the total and utter guilt that they felt, so I think it's never good to either be cheated on or be the cheater."

Sarah plays the fourth member of the gang, Katie. "She's the listener, the rock, and people go to her because she looks like she's unbreakable," the 39-year-old explains.

"I have friends like that; they don't seem to buckle under anything. She installs strength in other people.

"She's a great character, there's a lot of depth to her. Her story maybe isn't as bubbly as the others, but it was a story I was very interested in."

Sarah herself is clear what she thinks of her character's actions.

"She's a nutter!" she roars. "I remember when I first read the script I thought 'Crikey! That's going to be really hard to play' because it's something I can't ever envisage doing. It's so, so misguided.

"But when people are grieving they can do the most incredible things. They seek love in totally the wrong places or their whole personality can change.

Despite the fact Katie is going through a tumultuous time, she keeps her problems to herself and remains the pal with the listening ear that the others can turn to in their hour of need, which, according to Sarah, is the complete opposite of the type of friend she is in real life. "I'm totally selfish," she giggles.

"I'm a spiller, I like to be the one who's chatting, having fun and laughing.

"I've got three very close friends I could call at any time, who would pick up the phone and look after me and I wouldn't feel embarrassed. It's really important to have people like that; people you know you can really lean on. I'm very grateful for them."

In the past, Sarah has said she is "not an actress who de- robes", so she was thankful that all of the underwear scenes fell mainly to her co-star Shelley Conn, who is shown in various sex scenes with men and women - and at one point both!

"Those scenes are definitely for the young ones, and I'm nearly 40," says Sarah with her raucous laugh. "Shelley is beautiful and she does it brilliantly."

Family and friends are due to attend the wedding of Yeovil-born actress Sarah Parish this Saturday(15th). Miss Parish, aged 39, will be marrying fellow actor James Murray at a church (St.James) near their family home in Lower Wield, Hampshire, before hosting a reception in their garden.

She is best known for her role as Allie in the ITV series Cutting It, and the couple met on the set when Mr Murray starred in the final series.

Since then, the Preston Community School and Yeovil College student has appeared in many one-off dramas, programmes and films including Dr Who and The Holiday.

Celebrity guests will include Dr Who actor David Tennant and best friend Amanda Holden, but her mother and father Thelma and Bill Parish of Thorne Lane, Yeovil, say she has not let fame take over.

Mrs Parish said: "I am looking forward to the big day and am proud of her, as I am of all my children. She isn't at all like a celebrity, she is just Sarah and very normal. She has been very busy and done all of the organising herself."

Miss Parish has not lived in Yeovil for around 20 years, but regularly visits the town in her capacity as Headway patron and attended the group's Christmas bazaar - see below.

Christmas Bazaar: Television star Sarah Parish, came back to her home town, Yeovil, as patron of the brain injuries charity Headway Somerset. Sarah who starred in Cutting It met charity client Wayne Porter, Headway UK Chairman Gerry Batten and Headway Yeovil manager Lynne Aldridge at the charity's Christmas bazaar. The event at the Salvation Army day centre in Southville, Yeovil, raised £700 to be used to help protect the garden at the centre from vandalism and litter. The charity also presented Miss Parish with wedding presents ahead of her wedding on Saturday(15th). Mrs Aldridge said: "It was lovely that Sarah travelled all the way from Hampshire. She drew the raffle and talked to everyone."

Only last year actress Sarah Parish was tired of having to endlessly purchase hats as friend after friend walked down the aisle. She admitted she was getting slightly out of breath and that should she get hitched herself then she “would want to do it my way, at my own pace – it would have to be special”.

Now the former Cutting It and Blackpool star has her chance to plan the special day – she is to marry long-term partner, actor James Murray, who at 32 is six years her junior. He popped the question four weeks ago and they will wed in December. “We met while filming Cutting It and have known each other for a long while now,” says Sarah. “It will be a family affair,” she adds of the nuptials. Lovely.

BRIDAL STARS-CELEBRITY ENGAGEMENTS BLOG

Date: 6th September, 2007

The television drama "Cutting It" may have been cut from the BBC lineup at the end of the 2005 season, but memories of the series will lovingly live on in the hearts of two of the program's co-stars, whose on-set romance has led to a promise of a lifetime together.

British newspaper The Mirror reports that Sarah Parish, best known to fans of the show as hair salon proprietor Allie Henshall, has accepted the proposal of actor James Murray, her love of the past two years, and the two are currently making plans for a 2008 wedding.

In celebration of her newly betrothed status, the bride-to-be invited her on-screen sisters, Angela Griffin and Sian Reeves, and fellow "Cutting It" cast member Amanda Holden on September 5, 2007 to the Boxwood Cafe, an elite eatery inside The Berkeley Hotel in the Knightsbridge area of London.

TV SARAH ENGAGED
The Mirror (London, England)
Date: September 6, 2007

CUTTING It star Sarah Parish is to wed boyfriend of two years James Murray. They are expected to tie the knot next year.

Last night Sarah, 38, and pals Amanda Holden, Sian Reeves and Angela Griffin celebrated at Gordon Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe in central London.

Sarah and James, 32, fell for each other on the set of the BBC hairdressing drama when he joined as ex-boyband hunk Liam. Sarah, salon boss Allie Henshall, was instantly smitten and they have been together even since.

PARISH WITH NO BOUNDARIES
The Mail on Sunday (London, England)
Date: February 25, 2007
Byline: JANE GORDON

It's such a relief to pull on a Roland Mouret dress after having spent a day shopping feeling like a fat cow.' Sarah is in the middle of moving home from her previous London base to the country house that she and her boyfriend James Murray (who co-starred as Liam in Cutting It) have just bought (she is heading off there after our interview). 'At heart I am a country girl and I have been looking to move out of London for a while now. We have bought a house in Hampshire that needs a lot of work done on it, and we want to make it as self-sufficient as possible. We are looking to find alternative energy sources and we are planning to grow our own food,' she says.

Sarah has been with James (seven years her junior) for almost two years and is 'happier than I have ever been' with a man who shares her love of the country and her aversion to the shallow world of celebrity. 'I have no interest in premieres and launch parties - I would much rather be down at the pub with James and the dogs talking about fly-fishing,' she says.

Sarah is wary of saying too much about James, who is starring in ITV1's new big-budget Saturday night sci-fi series Primeval, because she has probably said 'too much' in the past about love affairs that subsequently ended. She jokes that in newspapers she always used to be referred to as 'unlucky-in-love Sarah Parish' because of broken relationships with (among others) actors Hugo Speer and Julian Ovenden. 'I was naive when I started - I would just chat away and then be horrified when I read what had been written about me. I am more cautious nowadays,' she says.

Although Sarah has a number of high-profile friends (Tennant and his girlfriend are close to Sarah and James, and she counts Dervla Kirwan and Amanda Holden among her set), she insists she does not lead a 'luvvie' life.

Do Sarah's plans with James include marriage and family? 'I have always imagined that I will have children, and my mother had me when she was 40, so there is still a strong chance that I will. But who knows what will happen?'

SCISSOR SISTER
The Guardian
Date: February 21, 2007

Late last year, Sarah Parish decided to buy a house in the country. It was a relatively momentous resolution for her, she says, but having spent 20 happy, hectic years in London, she suddenly found herself "at that age where you realise you're fed up with all the noise and everything". Parish and her boyfriend, actor James Murray, purchased an old mill in a remote Hampshire village. Hello turnips, geese and rustic peace. Glorious. "Yeah," says Parish, stirring her cappuccino. "That's what we thought. But after we'd bought it, I suddenly thought, 'Fuck me, what have we done?' It needs rewiring, new floors, the lot. It's an absolute heap at the moment. I can't even begin to imagine the work that's involved. It's a disaster."

Who said romance was dead? Brits will spend a staggering £64,961 romancing loved ones in their lifetimes, according to a new survey. Flowers, jewellery, candlelit dinners, sexy treats and romantic breaks all add up to the average Brit spending £1,382 annually to woo their other halves.

Award winning actress Sarah Parish's ideal Valentines present would be lingerie from her favourite brand La Pearla.

THE KICKS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
The Times(London)
Date: December 19, 2006

Currently living in Islington, North London, Parish is taking some strategic time off, having appeared in three different television programmes this year, as well as a film. “I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh God, get off my bloody telly. If I see that woman’s face one more time . . .’ ” Instead, she has been preparing for her next project in January, trying to get her production company, Benny Productions, off the ground, and relaxing with her boyfriend, her Cutting It co-star James Murray, whom she’s been seeing for a year and a half.

They’re hoping to buy a house together in the countryside and have what she describes as a fairly low-key life. “The pub and the dogs. We’re not big party people any more. I did the whole London scene in every single way I could when I was younger, but I’m really glad that I scratched that itch, because now there isn’t any part of me that wishes I was at that premiere or party.”

Is marriage the next step? “It’s not something that I find particularly important. At the moment a lot of my partner’s friends are getting married and there’s a part of me that gets slightly out of breath about it, one wedding after the other.

“I would want to do it my way, at my own pace. It would have to be special; it’s not about a bloody great salmon.”

And children? “I know a lot of people say they can hear that clock ticking — I can’t. My mother had me when she was 40, and people are having kids now when they are 42, 43. I’m pretty sure I will have children, but when it happens, it happens.”

SARAH PARISH IN SHROPSHIRE AND WALES

"I shuddered at wet beards, partied like a young 'un, caught a fish for supper".

The Guardian
Date:Saturday September 2, 2006

On Friday night we went to the cinema, to see Severance. I thought it'd be a tongue-in-cheek British horror - something along the lines of Shaun Of The Dead. In fact, it was absolutely terrifying. I spent most of the film with my hands over my face, willing it to end. Always a good way to spend a Friday night, I find.
We(Sarah & James Murray)went to the Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Saturday. Don't ask me why - I'm not even into folk music(James apparently is)but I thought it would be fun. Actually, it was terrible. It rained, of course, and there were a lot of fat, middle-aged men who were all wearing flowers and bells and drinking pints of horrible cider. There were a lot of beards on the go, too. Wet beards. That's not good, is it?
Sunday was much better. It was our friend Jim's birthday, so we drove up to his house in Abersoch and had a barbecue, a great catch-up, a fantastic time. We eventually got to bed at 5am. There was a time when I could have big nights like that and get up the next day feeling fine. Now, though, it takes me three days to prepare for a big night and three days afterwards to recover. The older you get, the more you have to rein it in. I got up spectacularly late, but I'd integrated water into my diet the night before, so I didn't feel too bad. Jim's sister made breakfast but we discovered we'd run out of ketchup.
We didn't make plans for our bank holiday Monday but ended up going out on the boat. We were told you can catch amazing mackerel just off the coast, so that was our dinner taken care of.

I've been spending a lot of time in Wales lately. I've lived in London for 20 years and I think I'm getting a bit sour about it. It's changed a lot recently - it's got more aggressive, dirtier, more crowded. We're thinking of moving out to Surrey. Somewhere leafy.

IN A TAXI WITH... JAMES MURRAY
The down-to-earth actor on celebrity, relationships - and chasing dinosaurs.

The Mail on Sunday (London, England)
Date: April 22, 2006
Byline: Maureen Paton
But although he didn't even get a decent haircut out of Cutting It, he did get the girl - by walking off into the sunset last autumn with its star, 36-year-old Sarah Parish. 'Sarah is adorable, and above all she makes me laugh a lot. We don't live together yet, we just spend a lot of time toing and froing, but we had a scream on holiday in Belize recently. Humour is a vital component; it's a dreadful mistake to take yourself too seriously in this business,' says James, who has no time for 'this celebrity culture rubbish'.

MURRAY'S MINT
Northern Echo
Date:(article dated Feb,6th,07)but refers to his time in Feb/March, 2006

James Murray talks about ITV1's new Saturday night series Primeval as being very new, very ambitious and with a script he couldn't put down. But the truth about why he wanted to play monster-hunter Stephen Hart was more basic.
He accepted this was fantasy not Shakespeare or Chekhov. As you can tell, he's an actor who takes his work seriously, even hokum like Primeval. To prepare himself for the physical demands of being chased by prehistoric animals he took himself off to Belize(with Sarah Parish)for a couple of weeks trekking before filming began.

"I knew the scripts wouldn't demand too much introspective acting. It's not that kind of show," he says. "I did some walking in the jungle. You rough it for three days, then sit in a log cabin to recuperate and then go back out again. That was good fun, but I haven't been wrestling tigers."

There was a lack of creature comforts in Belize, but no lack of creatures on screen where he's chased by the fearsome likes of the gorgonopsid and scutersaurus.

ViP: SARAH PARISH and JAMES MURRAY
From: The People(Features)(London, England)
Date: December 4, 2005
Byline: Debbie Manley & Alice Walker

LOVE is clearly still in the hair for Cutting It stars Sarah Parish and James Murray. They couldn't keep their hands off each other at the party after The League of Gentlemen live show at London's Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday.

PLAY IT AGAIN AT SAM'S... Stars relive first date
The People (London, England)
Date: October 23, 2005

LOVE is clearly in the hair as Cutting It stars Sarah Parish and James Murray pay a sentimental return visit to the restaurant where their off-screen romance blossomed.

The couple popped into Sam's Chop House to cosy up over a bottle of wine during a fleeting visit to Manchester.

They had their first date there after James, 30, joined the BBC hairdressing drama earlier this year as boyband heart-throb Liam. Sarah, 36, who played Allie Henshall in the show, said: "We were just having a trip down memory lane."

LOVE AT FIRST SNIP as Cutting It stars fall head over heels in love
Evening Standard - London
Date: September 2, 2005

CUTTING It stars Sarah Parish and James Murray have fallen for each other after meeting on the BBC show. Parish, 36, right, who played Allie, quit the Manchester-based hairdressing drama after the last series to spend time with her boyfriend in London. But the couple split recently, and Parish, who lives in a Pounds 1 million home in Islington, spent the bank holiday with Murray in a romantic getaway in Wales. A source said: "It's early days yet but they are enjoying spending time together."

SCISSOR SISTER MAKES DATE WITH CO-STAR
Evening Standard - London
Date: September 2, 2005

CUTTING IT stars Sarah Parish and James Murray are a couple after meeting in the BBC show, it was revealed today.

The 36-year-old left the hairdressing drama, filmed in Manchester, after the last series to spend more time with her live-in boyfriend in Islington. But she and actor Dan Fredenburgh separated earlier this year and Parish has been dating Murray, 30, who plays Liam in the show, for a month.

The two spent the Bank Holiday together in a romantic getaway in Wales. A source close to the pair said: "It's early days yet, but they are enjoying spending time together."

CUDDLING IT - Sarah dates hair salon drama co-star Murray
The Mirror (London, England)
Date: September 2, 2005
Byline: exclusive By Fiona Cummins and Cameron Robertson

ACTRESS Sarah Parish has split from her live-in boyfriend and fallen for Cutting It co-star James Murray.

The star, who played Allie Henshall in the BBC's hairdressing drama, met James when he joined the show earlier this year.

She quit after the latest series to spend more time with actor Dan Fredenburgh but the couple broke up.

Sarah, 36, and James, 30, have been dating for a month and spent the Bank Holiday weekend together on a romantic break in Wales. They drove up from Sarah's 1million pound home in Islington, North London, with two dogs and stopped off to walk them in Pentrefoelas, Denbighshire. A source close to the pair revealed: "It's early days but they are enjoying spending time together.

"Sarah has really been through the relationship mill and she's hoping this one works out."

Sarah appeared committed to Dan, who played Colin Firth's cheating brother in Love Actually, when she left Cutting It. The series is filmed in Manchester and she wanted to spend more time with Dan in London. Sarah's relationship with James is not the first time she has become close to a male co-star.

She was linked to the new Dr Who David Tennant after they appeared in the musical drama Blackpool. Sarah also dated Full Monty star Hugo Speer but they parted in 2002. She has made no secret of the fact she would love to settle down and have a baby. She said: "In my dreams I'd love to meet somebody who I fall in love with, and have a baby. But there's no point going for second-best."

Manchester-born James, who plays former boyband heart-throb Liam in Allie's hair salon, has dated his co-stars in the past. He went out with Helen McCrory after meeting her on legal drama North Square in 2001. In an interview he said: "I like a good drink and I love sex - all good strong Scottish traits." More recently he split from Spanish princess Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon who competed on Channel 4's The Games.

James said in May: "I'm single at the moment. I'm still smarting a bit, but we're still good friends. We'll just have to see what love brings."

ON THE RADAR: James is left really cut-up
Sunday Mirror
Date: Jul 10th, 2005
by Suzanne Kerins

CUTTING It hunk James Murray has split from sexy Spanish princess Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon. I'm told Murray, 30, and Tamara - star of Channel 4 reality show The Games - decided to go their separate ways because they hardly saw each other. My spy tells me: "They're both gutted about it. But Tamara has been cheered up big time by her girlie pals Sophie Anderton and Jodie Kidd." Glad to hear it.

The following article is deliberately out of sinc with the above timeline, because it was posted almost three months after James and Tamara broke up, and gives details of their relationship over the past two years. It includes allegations and very personal facts about their time together, as well as his reconnection with Sarah Parish, apparently while still with Tamara. How much of this article you believe is up to you.

CUT 'N' THRUST
News Of The World
Date:25th September, 2005

DUMPED Princess Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon today takes the scissors to Cutting It star James Murray—and tells his new love(Sarah Parish): "You're welcome to him!"

Spanish Tamara — star of Channel 4 reality show The Games — exposes her ex-fiancé as a jealous cocaine-snorting cheat after he left her and took up with telly beauty Sarah Parish, his co-star in the hit hairdressing soap.

Tamara — a cousin of King Juan Carlos of Spain — snips away the tangled mess Murray left her in to reveal the bald facts of how he:
HOOVERED up lines of cocaine in club toilets in their wild two-year relationship.
HID a sexy mobile text message sent to his phone saying: "I want to be naked in bed with you now xxx".
JEALOUSLY branded her a slut for wearing skimpy outfits because he couldn't stand other men fancying her.

Tamara finally caught Murray cheating on her after ringing him at 5am to hear a woman talking in the background—and finding a necklace on his bedside table.
"Splitting with him was a blessing in disguise—I've managed to stay off coke ever since," Tamara told the News of the World. "He simply doesn't believe you can get addicted. Now I'm glad I've got the poison out of my system—Jim included."

"He turned out a jealous, possessive cheat. He swore to me there was no other woman in his life—even though our sex life suddenly disintegrated from doing it every night to nothing when he joined Cutting It." Tamara, 27, fell for Murray, 30, after meeting the then jobless actor at a photographic exhibition in 2003. "We dated for a month before sleeping together," she said. "Then we made love in every room in his house and mine. We were besotted with each other. He's a very passionate and unselfish lover. We spent a lot of time together because he was out of work. At the beginning of 2004 he asked me to move in with him—and last September he proposed. I was thrilled."

But there was a dark side to their love. Tamara — who had already beaten an addiction to cocaine—found herself back in its grip with Murray. "Jim has a cavalier attitude to drugs. He thought I was making a fuss about nothing and, because I loved him, I wanted to believe him," said Tamara. "We did coke socially." And Tamara had to endure his jealous streak. "If I put on a revealing outfit to go out in he'd call me a slut," she said. "And if we weren't together he'd always be ringing to find out where I was."

But, despite his worrying behaviour, their sex life was hot — until he landed the role of Liam in Cutting It early this year. "We were making love four or five times a week," said Tamara. "But when he got his job you could sense the change in him overnight. It really went to his head. He clearly didn't want me mixing with the rest of the cast."

The two saw less and less of each other as they worked on their different shows. "His temper got worse——but alarm bells started clanging in my head when he stopped wanting to have sex," said Tamara. "I felt very hurt and rejected and my worst fears were confirmed when Jim's phone got a text message while he was in the shower one night. "We had identical phones and I read it. It said ‘I want to be naked in bed with you now xxx'. The number was stored under his accountant's name. When he got out of the shower and I confronted him about it he said it was just a joke."

When they were apart again, a suspicious Tamara rang his rented apartment early one morning. "Jim answered and I could hear voices in the background. He finally admitted he was having a coffee with another woman. It made me go cold. Later he told me I was paranoid."

As the relationship disintegrated, the pair moved to separate homes — yet they continued to date each other. But the last straw for Tamara was finding a necklace by his bed when she visited him at his place. "He claimed it was the cleaner's," she said. "The next thing I read that Sarah had dumped her boyfriend and she and Jim were on a romantic holiday in Wales. I called him about it—but he refused to speak to me.

"I loved Jim and thought we had a future together. But now I know I had a lucky escape."

Tamara did not ask for payment for this story. The News of the World has made a donation to a charity of her choice.