(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.)

Sarah Parish actually is the woman everyone pretends to be in the personal ads. Tall, talented, gorgeous and smart, she has a great sense of humour and a zest for living.

If you need further enticement, there's a voice I can only describe as vintage Kathleen Turner decanted into a beaker of Lauren Bacall. It's so seductive that when she laughs, knees tremble.

But give her an opportunity to play an ugly troll, a monstrous spider, or a birthmark-blighted harridan and she's happy as Larry. "This is my ugly era," she says, flashing a big grin. We're sharing a sofa and eating lunch at a London hotel, ahead of the UK premiere of The Pillars of the Earth, an eight-hour series based on the bestselling novel by Ken Follett.

Set during The Anarchy - the reign of King Stephen and then his cousin, Matilda - Pillars is a medieval epic, boasting a cast starry enough to spin off into their own galaxy. Ian McShane, Matthew Macfadyen, Tony Curran, Rufus Sewell and Donald Sutherland are just some of the big names on board.

Central to the plot are the machinations of the Hamleigh family - Lord Percy, Lady Regan, and their dastardly son, William. Parish plays the nefarious Regan, and the advance word from America, where the series has already aired, say she's mesmerising in the role, even though the make-up people didn't do her any favours. Then again, maybe they did...

"I knew the book really well. My husband had read it and absolutely loved it - couldn't stop talking about it - and he got it for everyone for Christmas. So I couldn't believe I got offered the role, and what I couldn't believe even more was that I'd been offered Regan Hamleigh. In the book she is described as so hideously ugly that people can't even look at her. She's covered in boils; she's barely got any of her own teeth; thin as a rake - hideous in every way. She married because she had money and she was high up in the nobility.
"She was very different in the adaptation, just very ghostly-looking, spooky, with dark eyes, a white face, and a very sinister birthmark - so it's kind of Hollywood ugly." She lets out a peal of laughter. "Thank god!"

Parish has gone full throttle ugly, though. In Merlin, her Lady Catrina turned out to be a vile, snuffling troll.
"I was so happy to be offered that, because it's such a lovely show for kids, and such a lovely bunch of people to work with.When they showed me the costume on the computer I was like, yes of course!"

And is it true she asked her friend and frequent co-star, David Tennant, if she could play a monster in Dr Who?
"Yes! I said 'I really want to be in Dr Who but I really want to be a very evil monster. I don't want to be one of your 'running around in a vest with a gun hot chicks'."

That was her in 2006's Runaway Bride episode, as Empress Racnoss - a super-sized, super-red spider.
"I enjoy doing that kind of prosthetic work. Throwing yourself into a part physically like that means you can change so dramatically, and that's quite exciting. I like having a huge mask to hide behind in acting.
Rather than, if you're a television player, which I am, often you get parts which are very similar to who you are, because that's the way the game is. When you get the chance to play something that's very far removed from you it's fun and it's crazy and it's a treat."

At the end of the action-packed two-hour opening episode of Pillars, Lady Hamleigh is about to give her grown son a bit of hand relief, I say, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Aw, keep it in the family!" she jokes. "Yes, the relationship progresses. In the book there is no mention of an incestuous relationship. John Pielmeier, who did the adaptation, came up with this idea. It was a succinct way of explaining why William Hamleigh is such a horrible person. In the book you see that the mother has incredible control and power over her son, but you never really know why.
We thought this would explain why he's under the control - the sexual control - of this awful manipulative woman. No wonder he's a mess. You don't forgive him for that, you don't like him any more as a character, but you can see that anger and the way he is so dark, sexually. And you get the triangle with Percy, the husband. You can see her so much more in love with what she created, this beautiful boy, than her ridiculous husband."

Ridiculous is not the word anyone would choose to describe Parish's actual husband, actor James Murray, whom she met on the set of Cutting It. They married in 2007, and held the reception in the garden of the Hampshire home they now share with daughter Nell, who's coming up to her first birthday.

"I gave birth to Nell 48 hours after I wrapped on set in Hungary," says Parish. "I got back to England at 10pm and was in the hospital by 10am the next morning. That's timing for you. Luckily, Regan's no sex symbol, so there were no tight, lacey-up-at-the-back little costumes for me. They were fantastic at work and managed to cover it brilliantly."

A sensible diet and exercise regime meant Parish barely showed.
"I went into hospital because I didn't feel quite right and wanted to get a check-up in England anyway. They said, 'We're not going to let you go. We're going to keep an eye on you.' And the day after, I had a Caesarean and she was out, healthy, and that was it."

Parish makes it sound oh so casual, but it's hard not to get a lump in my throat, thinking about how terrified they must have been, and how relieved. For Parish's first daughter, Ella-Jayne, died at just eight months from complications connected to a rare birth defect. Parish never discusses her loss publicly, but I can imagine how thrilling it must be to utter the word "healthy".
Did she feel she was treated well by the media at the time?
"They were very respectful - because if you're a familiar face, they can crucify you. It's juicy gossip. I thought we got away with it really lightly. It helps that Jim and I are not in the public eye. We're not Brangelina." She stops to ponder this. "What would we be? Jarah! We're not Jarah. Jarah - the new perfume by James and Sarah. Smells like wet nappy ... and dogs!"

I read that Parish struggled with her image when she started out and wonder how she'll address the fraught issue of beauty with Nell when the time comes.

"At drama school I was often told, much to my disappointment, that it might take me a long time to get going in the business. I couldn't understand. They said, 'You have a certain look about you, and you're going to have to wait until you're maybe in your thirties until people start getting you'."

It's true she's no ingénue - "I don't look like one and I don't sound like one and I never have" - and there were some tough years after leaving drama school. "It wasn't until I was about 28, 29, that it suddenly started to work a little bit more for me. I'm 42 now," she says, without a trace of hesitation.

I get the feeling that anyone who dared suggest Parish go under the knife would find themselves minus two kneecaps.
"To go back to your earlier question, I've never been a dolly bird, and by that I mean there are actresses who are very, very beautiful, and if you're seen as one of those people, the pressure to remain that way is huge. The parts I've done have not been about the way I look. Mistresses is probably the most. Even Cutting It wasn't a piece about beauty, really."

Soon after our meeting she's off to Leeds to film an ITV series, Monroe, with James Nesbitt. She's thrilled.
"I've been waiting such a long time to work with him. It's about a neurosurgeon and a heart surgeon - that's me - and written by Peter Bowker, who wrote Blackpool. They have a wonderful, bantery relationship. It's got a lovely, theatrical feel, quite heightened, fast and pacey. Because I always worry about hospital shows - it's got to have something that makes it different from the other 540 we see every day."

Does she worry that the curse of the two-actor marriage will give "Jarah" problems down the road?
"Marriage is very difficult, full stop.
Jim and I have never sat down and said, 'If I get really famous, will you still love me?' When we met I was more successful than he was, in a way, but that never mattered, and now he's going to work on an American television series, I'm sure he will become very successful. He's got a definite look and style that's very compatible over there."

From November, Murray is filming a series for CBS TV in Vancouver, Chaos. So after wrapping up her ITV duties in December, Parish will join him.
"What may happen is that Jim will start to have a flourishing career in America and my career will be happening here, and it may become difficult if we let it become difficult, or we just say, 'you know what, this is the way it is'. Luckily, we have five years before Nell goes to school - which will be in England. We are certain about that.
"We take it one day at a time, not thinking about what's going to happen. This time yesterday I wasn't going to Leeds for three months, I was going to be home in Hampshire looking after Nell. You could never have predicted that in a million years. Jim might become a huge star and I could just follow him around the world. In actual fact, people don't have control over anything in their lives at all. When you just let go, it actually becomes quite exciting. Even if something really s**t happens."

Because you've already survived the s**ttiest thing that can happen?
"Exactly! Through those hideous, traumatic times you begin to laugh in the face of further danger. Try me. Come on!"

You could add resilient to that list of attributes we started much earlier - but I prefer magnificent.

What’s it like to play a woman as evil as Regan Hamleigh?
“I love Regan, she’s fantastic. She is such a brilliantly bad person and has some wonderfully cutting lines. She has no redeemable features - she’s just pure evil, brilliantly and beautifully evil. You really look forward to the scenes where she does all her plotting and mischief.”

Were you surprised to be cast as Regan?
“Yes I was slightly surprised. I read Ken Follett’s book about two years ago and in it Regan was described as being the most hideous awful creature that anyone had ever set eyes on. You could barely look at her she was so ugly. She was covered in boils, no teeth, stick thin; she looked like she could break and barely any hair left. Luckily in this I was just ‘Hollywood ugly’ so I got away with a birthmark on my face!”

You’ve got some incredible medieval costumes, what did you think of them?
“Regan’s costumes were beautiful, and all handmade by the designer. Mine changed in size quite dramatically over the time we were filming because I was pregnant, so I needed the same dress, but just a bit bigger every week, so I could get my bump into it. Although the dresses were magnificent, they were quite uncomfortable and heavy to wear because the heat in Budapest when we were filming was very intense. They hid my pregnancy really well with the clothes and fans. I actually gave birth 48 hours after I finished filming!”

How did you find the experience of filming while you were pregnant?
“I was very lucky as I didn’t discover the pregnancy until quite late on, so for the first half of filming I didn’t even know I was pregnant. My daughter Nell arrived a bit early, too, so it was actually like the shortest pregnancy in the history of the world. And it was incredibly easy. It’s great to be working while your pregnant because you’re sitting around all day stuffing your face, and not thinking about when you feel ill. You’ve just got to get on with your work. Everybody in the cast or crew was incredibly supportive. So I didn’t have the usual problems of morning sickness or cravings and stuff.”

Do you bring Nell on set now when you’re filming?
“I have a nanny and brought her along for when I filmed Mistresses a few months back – she comes with Nell everywhere I go. I try not to have her on set, though, as she’s very little and it’s very boring.”

What was it like to film in Hungary?
“There were some wonderful locations, but we did leave Budapest for Vienna in Austria to do a lot of filming involving the nobility of the piece. We filmed in the most incredible castle there but it was unbearably cold and uncomfortable.”

Why is Regan’s relationship with her son so incestuous?
“It’s very unhealthy relationship, isn’t it? It didn’t appear in the book like that. We were slightly worried that we’d pushed it too far, that it would offend people. In the end we kept it in because it’s a wonderful way of explaining why William is a ghastly terror. You’ve got this awful underlying relationship with his mother that has pushed him to the edge of sanity. It started with a few moments and by the end of filming there’s a full-on snog. It also works because Regan’s husband Percy, played by Robert Bathurst, is this ineffectual bumbling man. She’s repulsed by the buffoon she’s married to, so you can see why she’s so obsessed by the image of herself in her son.”

How was it doing such taboo scenes?
“You just get on and do it really. We tried to do the scenes in as subtle a way as we could without it looking garish and slightly vulgar. Ultimately the actor, David Oakes, is not my son. We had good chemistry so there was a lot of trust there to do the scenes that were, shall we say, a little more delicate.”

Was it fun working alongside Ian McShane, who’s starring as scheming bishop Waleran Bigod?
“Yes, it was great fun. Ian and I did a series together ages ago called Trust. It just a great family feeling on set if you get a cast without a***holes.”

*C4’s Pillars of the Earth begins with a double bill on Saturday, October 16

Flourishing TV career, happy marriage, new baby, country home (with friendly locals) – Sarah Parish’s life couldn’t be more perfect. But the Mistresses star confesses to Liz Jones why she has a ‘huge fear of failure'

'I can be hard on myself, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing,' says Sarah.

Anyone who thinks the life of an actress is an impossibly glamorous one has never spent the day with Sarah Parish. In the middle of filming the third and final series of Mistresses, the sort of super-addictive telly that has me reaching for the Maltesers, Sarah is holed up in a location van in a bleak car park in Bristol. There are lots of men wandering around holding plastic plates of food, machines dispensing chocolate, and puddles. The only bright spot is Sarah’s tiny dressing room: it’s awash with flowers, because on the day we meet it’s her 42nd birthday. Will she be celebrating this evening? ‘We’ll have a drink, but I had a big party on Friday in my back garden. I shared it with a friend who lives down the road, and it was brilliant: 120 people came!’

I tell her I have to apologise for asking the following question, because I would never ask it of Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, but isn’t passing 40 for someone in her profession something of a death knell? ‘You become wiser and more knowing as you get older and ultimately more interesting to watch, but the parts get fewer and it’s frustrating, because I’ve got more to give. Wisdom is not deemed an attractive quality, which is horrible, frightening.’

She says she has never been tempted to tamper with her face. ‘Plastic surgery can’t make you younger or more beautiful, because beauty is in your eyes, isn’t it? It’s in your soul; you can’t strap it on.’

When we meet, I have just been to see Sex and the City 2 and, while I hadn’t loved the film, I relished seeing women in their 40s and even 50s writ large and unapologetic on the screen. Of course, after Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte came Katie, Siobhan, Jessica and Trudi: the friends in Mistresses who although not quite as well dressed as their American counterparts – ‘If they’re that interested in whether your blouse is by Alexander McQueen or Vivienne Westwood,’ says Sarah, ‘you’re probably not doing your job very well’ – certainly seem to be having as much sex.

I tell Sarah I find it misogynistic that SATC2 had such bad reviews. Why can’t a film for women just be an escapist fantasy rather than a feminist tract? She nods. ‘We are unforgiving of the female sex. If it was four men making the mistakes that we make as the mistresses, I don’t think they would get as much grief.’

The third series starts with a feud that means the four friends are not speaking. Sarah won’t say what causes it, only that this series is more believable than the second, which strayed into fantastical territory – the introduction of a Mrs Rochester figure – and alienated those of us who loved its gritty, funny and often rude reflection of how we live our lives. ‘I think second-series syndrome happens: you have a great first series, and then you don’t know where to go, you tend to bring in new characters that maybe the audience aren’t that interested in seeing…it’s very difficult.’

There were lots of stories in the press about the SATC stars feuding. Male editors love to promote the idea that women can only be bitchy to one another. What is the atmosphere like on the Mistresses set? ‘We’ve become better friends as time has gone on,’ she says. ‘We try to spend time with each other when we’re not working as well, although Orla [Brady, who plays Siobhan] lives in LA, and Shelley [Conn, who plays Jessica] goes there to do the pilot-show season every year.’ A new addition to the cast is Joanna Lumley, who plays Sarah’s mum. ‘She’s fantastic; polite and charming and lovely to be around.’ Ah, but does she make you laugh? ‘God, yes! She is very, very funny.’

A lot has happened to Sarah between season two and three. She gave birth to a daughter, Nell, last November. Does she think becoming a mum has made her a better actress? ‘I’ve always got half a mind on Nell. I think I was far more focused before. But there are pros and cons. I think motherhood brings another level to your acting.’

The moment Sarah starts talking about Nell, her huge brown eyes contain a curious mixture of happiness, pride and apprehension. She knows my next question is coming. I ask whether the loss of her first child has made her over-cautious as a mother, and she looks upset and flustered. She won’t talk about what happened to Ella-Jayne, who died aged eight months in January 2009. She had been desperately ill since being born in May 2008, five weeks prematurely, and needed surgery to correct a heart defect caused by a rare genetic condition, Rubenstein-Taybi syndrome.

Sarah and her husband, the actor James Murray, spent weeks keeping vigil at the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital before being allowed to spend their daughter’s last few months at home. ‘You were expecting cards and balloons,’ Sarah said at the time, ‘and suddenly you are dropped into a nightmare. She had a great Christmas and was very happy.’

But when Sarah tells me Nell had already been on a plane to LA aged three months, and when the family goes to the local village pub the baby ‘just gets passed around: she is literally taken out of my arms and I see her about two-and-a-half hours later’, it’s clear she has managed, with a great big force of will, to be able to function and to be normal, for Nell’s sake. Filming on the new series of Mistresses was delayed so that her pregnancy was trouble-free, and Sarah says everyone has been wonderfully supportive. Does Nell ever join her on set? ‘Yes, sometimes the nanny will bring her along. But it’s a bit boring for a baby.’

Does she see her own mother in the way she is with Nell? ‘I hope I’m very similar to my mum because she is a fantastic mother. She was driven as well as being incredibly protective and caring, and I think that is important. I think you can have your career and still bring to your family something very, very special. There are some people who are born mothers, who don’t want to work and just want to stay at home, and that’s fantastic, but for me it was something very difficult.’

Sarah grew up in Yeovil in Somerset. Her mum, Thelma, was a deputy headmistress who taught drama, English and dance, while her dad, Bill, was an engineer. Having failed to get into the Royal Ballet School as a girl, Sarah decided she wanted to act, and after A-levels landed a place at London’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. She struggled for a long time: she sold necklaces in markets, had bit parts in movies, and did ads for Boddingtons beer. I tell her that throughout her career, from Hearts and Bones, where she met best friend Amanda Holden, to Cutting It, where she met her husband, she has talked in interviews about fear. I remind her she once said, ‘I don’t ever feel comfortable doing this job. It makes me very nervous and, when I’m nervous, I get upset and I’m not a very nice person. I lose a lot because my fear of failure is huge.’

Now she is successful, has she lost her fear that the work will dry up? ‘No, I feel it today! I’m like, “What job am I going to do next?” I don’t think it ever goes.’ Does she think it’s true that most ambitious people feel that? ‘I think insecurity does drive people. I know it’s what drove me to push for the work I’ve got.’

I guess she is a perfectionist, too. ‘Sometimes I can be quite hard on myself, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. I always think I can do a bit better. A lot of people would say I’m quite controlling, and sometimes that’s not a great quality. I hope I’m not a nightmare to live with; you’ll have to ask my husband.’

I tell her we have something in common; she too moved to a wreck in the middle of nowhere – a tiny village in Hampshire – keen to live a simple, self-sufficient life. Has it all worked out? ‘The house is done, the garden’s done; it’s great, we really love it. In the summer it’s a blissful place to live, but in the winter it’s desolate – you feel very much stuck out there on your own.’

Were the locals wary initially? ‘I had been there about a week when there was a knock on the door and outside was a people carrier full of girls going, “Hi! We all live in the village, do you want to come for a drink?” I was terrified! “Oh no, no! I can’t!” – you know, when you’ve still got that inner London in you, where if anyone actually talks to you or smiles at you then obviously they’re mentally ill. A week later they came round again and I did go out and it was fantastic, and now we have a regular thing. There are 21 houses in the village and we know everyone, and they were all at the party on Friday.’ Does she miss London? ‘We still have a flat there, a bolthole, as most of my friends are there. But I’m not a dressy-uppy, goey-outy sort of person.’

With both Sarah and James juggling work, do they have rules about who will stay home and who will go out and steal the limelight? ‘It’s important that we try to stick together as a family. You often read about couples who say, “We broke up because the distance was too much.” I can see how that can happen because it’s difficult to turn down work and sit on the other side of the world and wait for somebody to come home. When I’m not working, I might as well sit with my husband in the US, where he’ll be working next, than sit on my own in Hampshire. But if another job comes up for me, I think to turn it down is silly. If both of us are happy we’ll come together when we come together and it’s a much more solid couple.’

Does James ever give her notes on a performance? ‘No! I don’t know how I’d feel about that. But we help each other if we’ve got auditions.’

Does she wish she had done anything differently? ‘You can’t regret any minute of your life. I think the way it is is the way it was supposed to be. You’ve just got to keep going.’ Does she no longer sweat the small stuff? ‘I try to keep this business in perspective, not to beat myself up about work.’ I remind her she once said: ‘In my worst nightmares, I imagine I’ll end up single in a flat with 20 cats. I’d hate that.’ She laughs. ‘No, that didn’t happen. I’m lucky. I’m happy.’

Mistresses returns to BBC1 on Thursday, 9pm

Award-winning British actress, Sarah Parish, has confirmed to Sunday News in a world exclusive that she and actor husband, James Murray, have welcomed a happy, healthy baby daughter.

The couple have named the little girl Nell, Parish said from the family home in Hampshire, England.

The baby was born six weeks early on November 21. “She’s great, she’s doing really well, she’s downstairs kicking up a fuss at the moment.”

Parish says the next five or six weeks are her “mummy-time” before filming of the third and final series of Mistresses starts in April.

Parish said she and Murray chose not to talk to the press about Nell until now, because of the media attention they received when their first child, Ella-Jayne, died last January.

Ella-Jayne was born with a heart defect and was kept in hospital for weeks after she was born. Eventually she was allowed home, and was thought to be making good progress until she had to be rushed back into intensive care. She was just eight months old when she died.

Seven months later, in August, Parish discovered she was pregnant again. “It was quite a shock,” she said. “Usually you know fairly quickly. I was three and a half months pregnant I kept it quiet, low-key, especially after the first child.” The surprise pregnancy forced filming to be delayed on the second season of popular drama Mistresses, in which Parish stars as compassionate GP Katie Roden.

Parish said the premature birth was due to her low-lying placenta. “I knew she was going to come early,” she said, but admitted she was nervous after Nell, like Ella-Jayne, was born premature.

“It was scary at the time but she was delivered brilliantly. She didn’t need any oxygen. The hospital where I had her, they’re so brilliant.”

Nell is wearing Ella-Jayne’s clothes, and sleeping in her nursery, which had been healing for her and Murray. “It’s helped a lot, I think. It was nice to have another little girl. It sort of completes the circle, if you like. It hasn’t brought up lots and lots of upsetting memories, which is good.”

Eight years ago, when Parish was 33 and dating fellow actor Hugo Speer, she told a BBC interviewer that her perfect life would be “to be happy and have a nice house in the country with children, one day”. She laughs when I remind her of that daydream. “[Reality] is very close,” she says. “We have a house in the country and we keep an apartment in London as well.

“If we’re not working we’re down in the country. It’s in the middle of nowhere, we’ve got chickens, we’ve got a vegetable patch. It’s a sort of idyllic life really. We just got back from the village pub now. Took the baby down, she was handed around”.

Parish, 41, said she had been waiting to meet the right person before having children. She and Murray, 35, both starred in BBC drama Cutting It, which ran between 2002 and 2005. They got together at about the time the series finished, and married in December 2007.

“I was very focused on my career when I was younger,” Parish said. “One day you wake up, don’t you, and you go ‘I’ve forgotten to have children!’ We got moving as soon as possible.”

.....the Earls Court Baby Show, Friday till Sunday. Any single one of those events would quite frankly have been enough but to have them all in one week was a bit too much.
I got to spend a day with the fabulous TotallySonny! That might not sound like much but when you have four children it isn’t very easy to get regular one on one time. I do spend much more time with my girls and in all honesty I can’t remember the last time that it was just the two of us. We had a lovely day – OK so it was back to The Baby Show again but today we were on a mission. With my work hat on I was meeting with the actress Sarah Parish and her actor hubby James Murray. So what you may say… but for Sonny, this is his idea of heaven. Sarah Parish was the Empress Racnoss in Dr Who and James was Steven in Primeval. His two favourite TV shows in the world! So we met them and they were lovely to Sonny. James bought him a hot dog and they signed a few bits for him. But the icing on the cake for my fella was James telling him that he loves the name Sonny and that it is top of their possible boys name list. Sonny duly handed over one of his TotallySonny.com badges and we had a whizz around the show with them.

Delighted Mistresses star Sarah Parish is expecting a baby in the New Year.
It’s a massive boost for the 41-year-old actress after her first daughter Ella-Jayne died tragically in January aged just eight months.
BBC bosses have even delayed filming of the next series of the saucy drama to give Sarah every chance of a worry-free pregnancy.
A source told us: “Sarah’s thrilled to be pregnant and wants to make sure she does everything in her power to deliver a happy, healthy baby.”
Sarah was still pregnant with Ella-Jayne when doctors told her and husband James Murray, 34 – with whom she starred in hit BBC drama Cutting It – that their unborn daughter had a hole in her heart.
The tot was born five weeks premature and spent the next four months in intensive care after two emergency operations. Three months ago Sarah spoke for the first time about the heart-breaking loss.
She said: “It is terrifying when you have a baby and she is taken away ill. You were expecting cards and balloons and suddenly you are dropped into a nightmare.”
Thankfully Ella-Jayne was able to spend her final few months with Sarah and James at their home near Winchester, Hants. Sarah said: “She had a great Christmas and was very happy. This was something the hospital gave us that was so precious.” Sarah’s spokeswoman said: “Sarah and James are delighted to be able to let you know that they are expecting a baby early in the New Year. I hope you will understand their desire to keep any further details private until after the birth.”

DEVASTATED Mistresses star Sarah Parish has spoken for the first time about the tragic loss of her baby daughter.

Little Ella-Jayne died in January aged just eight months after being born with a hole in her heart.

Sarah, 41, said: “It is terrifying when you have a baby and she is taken away ill.

“You were expecting cards and balloons and suddenly you are dropped into a nightmare.”

Doctors told the beauty and actor hubby James Murray that their first child had the defect while Sarah was still pregnant.

The tiny girl was born five weeks premature in an emergency caesarean last May — and was immediately whisked away for two emergency operations. She spent the next four months in intensive care — but was able to spend her final months at home near Winchester, Hants.

Sarah, former star of drama Blackpool, said: “She really had a very normal four months at home.

“It is very easy to treat them with kid gloves and not to take them outside and do things. But we thought, ‘We don’t know how long we have her for’ and wanted to have the best time possible.”

She also praised the medics at the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital for the early treatment which allowed Ella-Jayne to go home. Precious

Sarah said: “We took her to see my family in Yeovil and James’s family up north. She had a great Christmas and was very happy.

“This was something that the hospital gave us that was so precious.

Sarah and James — who met on BBC1 hit Cutting It — are now raising money for the hospital. They hope to make £100,000 to pay for a clinical psychologist to counsel families with children in Southampton’s PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit).

Sarah said: “Being in hospital with a very sick child is a very frightening and stressful time.

“There needs to be someone on hand to take the families aside and answer practical questions and offer emotional support.

“Having a counsellor would definitely have helped us.”

James, 34, currently starring in BBC2 comedy Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, said the pair take comfort from the messages left on Ella-Jayne’s page on charity website Justgiving.

He said: “In really dark moments, if we click on and see that Sally from Scarborough has donated £4, it brightens us up.

“It restores our faith in humanity and we are humbled by people’s kindness.”

TO donate on Ella-Jayne Murray’s Justgiving page click on the link at friendsofpicu.org.uk.

AFTER the death of their eight-month-old daughter actress Sarah Parish and husband James Murray are raising money for the Hampshire hospital children's unit which treated her.

Baby Ella-Jayne died in January after being born with a serious heart condition.

She spent the first four months of her life in and out of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Southampton General Hospital before returning to the couple's home near Winchester.

Now the couple, who met on the set of the hit TV hairdressing drama Cutting It, want to give something back to the unit that helped them so much.

They have set themselves a fundraising target of £100,000 to pay for a clinical psychologist to support Southampton's PICU by offering counselling, support and advice to relatives for three years - after this the hospital will fund the new position.

Sarah, who also appeared in Blackpool and Mistresses, said: "It is terrifying when you have a baby and it is taken away ill.

"You were expecting cards and balloons and suddenly you are dropped into a nightmare."

The actress added: "When Ella-Jayne was in PICU the staff were all invaluable. Without their brilliance we would never have had the opportunity to bring her home.

"We have never met such incredible and generous people. It really opened our eyes."

Primeval actor James said: "We are giving back something that we could have done with ourselves. It's a very good support system but having a counsellor would be the icing on the cake."

If you would like to make a donation to Sarah and James' fundraising mission to pay for a clinical psychologist at the unit visit their justgiving page at www.friendsofpicu.org.uk or call Friends of PICU charity secretary Eddie Manchip on 023 9237 9044.

It immediately launches into the interview with no preamble or explanation.

Sarah: It's terrifying because you're suddenly, you, you know you're expecting a baby and of course you have all these preconceived ideas of what's going to happen. You're going to give birth, it's going to be wonderful, there'll be cards, balloons, it's going to be fantastic. And of course that dream is ripped away from you immediately and you're thrown into a living hell really. (Rueful laugh).

James: We lived there. We spent 12 hours a day there, sometimes 24 hours a day in the actual unit and it's like the Starship Enterprise. (Sarah laughs). They way it's run, er, the equipment they have. They have a 97% success rate, which if you think about it is pretty impressive. (Sarah nods)

Sarah: (Interrupting a little) But it can always be bigger. There's never enough room...

James: (Talking over each other slightly) Yeah, there can always be more beds.

Sarah: (Continuing) ...for all the children.

(Shots of the hospital's baby unit, nurses at work etc as Sarah continues).

Sarah: I think we feel we owe them quite a lot for looking after Ella-Jayne and looking after us in what was a very traumatic time.

Interviewer: The loss of a child is unbearable for any parent and people cope with it in different ways. How did you cope with it - both of you? How did you bear it?

Sarah: PICU gave us four very important months where Ella-Jayne could come home. If it hadn't have been for them we'd never have had her home and I think we, I, will spend the rest of our lives repaying them for that.

Interviewer: How are you going to do that? What are you going to do?

(Sarah looks at James to answer)

James: Trying to raise money and we have been raising money for Friends of PICU. Specifically in our case for a clinical psychologist to support and look after parents of children who are on the ward. So we're looking for £100,000 um, we've found about 30 at the moment through various things that Sarah and I have done - treks, and just...

Sarah: Sponsored runs, walks...

James: And just putting it out there.

Sarah: Yeah.

James: But we need another 70. (Sarah laughs and James smiles).

Interviewer: You're dragging in lots of friends?

James: Yeah.

Interviewer ...to do things?

Sarah: We have. The lovely Amanda Holden has been very generous and said she will run the New York marathon for us.

(Shot of the donation page for Ella-Jayne that you can find here.)

Interviewer: It's a fitting tribute to your daughter...

James: Yeah.

Interviewer:...that you are giving something back to the people who helped her.

Sarah: Hmm. We've had a fabulous 8 months with a beautiful little girl. She's left a lot of love in people's hearts and she is...she stays alive in people's memories and in our memory. And I think working for this charity and doing the work that we do, I don't know (looks at James) it just makes me feel better about the fact that she's not here anymore.

GLAM Mistresses star Sarah Parish has gone from doll to troll for the new BBC series Merlin.

Sarah, 40, said her role in the show about the mythological magician is “a very funny job”.

She said: “I’m a nasty troll who turns herself into a glamorous lady of the court and seduces the head of Camelot.

“She marries him and takes over Camelot.”

Sarah has already lined up another role with a medieval theme in Pillars of the Earth.

The star, married to actor James Murray, has immersed herself in work as she battles against her grief over their eight-month daughter Ella-Jayne, who died from a heart defect in January.

Despite her own heartache, caring Sarah finds time to help others. She supports Headway, the charity for people with brain injuries.

The baby died in January and Sara, 40, who's wed to ex-Primeval star James Murray, 33, said: "We made the trip in her honour and spent seven weeks in a couple of orphanages.

"It put everything into perspective for us. It was the right time to do it."

Discover how actress Sarah Parish and her mother feel about their special relationship

Actress Sarah Parish, 40, lives with her husband, actor James Murray, 35, in Hampshire. Sadly, their eight-month-old daughter Ella-Jayne, who was born with a heart defect, died two weeks after this interview, but Sarah requested it be published and wanted to highlight the work of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Southampton General Hospital (friendsofpicu.org.uk).

My earliest memory is of sitting at Mum’s dance school, watching her teach a ballet class. I decided that’s what I wanted to be. Mum’s always been a talented dancer. When she was 12 she got a TV contract to be the next Shirley Temple, but her mother wouldn’t let her do it.

Our house was very theatrical and every Christmas we’d put on a pantomime. It was a lot of fun.

My mum was deputy head of my secondary school, which could have been difficult, but I loved it. I remember once walking into my Mum’s office to find eight thuggish six formers huddling in a circle with Mum in the middle, all having a smoke! She had time for everyone.

Retired teacher Thelma Parish, 80, lives in Yeovil with her husband, Bill. She has three children, John, 49, Julie, 47, and Sarah, 40.

Sarah’s acting career started when she was two. I was in a play at our local theatre and realised I’d forgotten my wand. I whispered to the wings and she appeared with it. After that, she refused to get off the stage!

I know that my job may have been difficult for Sarah and quite possibly overshadowed her at times. She didn’t come into her own until she went to college - she got all these parts that had nothing to do with me and she bloomed.

I’ve always thought Sarah had something special, so I'm not surprised that she’s been so successful. She’s this wonderful mix of vulnerable and strength of character. I do often worry that she pushes herself too hard, but then I always do too.

Sarah stars in Mistresses on BBC1

Actress is trying to deal with her grief.

Sarah Parish has been left devastated by the death of her eight-month-old daughter Ella-Jayne.

The Mistresses actress, 40, who is married to James Murray, 33, gave birth 5 weeks early by emergency Caesarean in May.

Ella-Jayne had life-saving surgery to correct a heart defect said to be brought on by a rare condition called Rubeinstein-Taybi syndrome.

She was rushed to intensive care again for a further op in the summer.

‘They are both now trying to get through this difficult time as best they can,’ a spokeswoman for the couple tells the News Of The World.

Ella-Jayne died at the couple’s home in Hampshire last week.

In sad news, Ella-Jayne Murray — the 8-month-old daughter of UK stars Sarah Parish and James Murray — has died after succumbing to complications from a congenital heart defect.

Sarah and James were made aware of the condition while Sarah, 40, was still pregnant, and Ella-Jayne — affectionately dubbed ‘E-J’ by her parents — was ultimately born five weeks premature via emergency C-Section. The delivery was later described as “traumatic” by James, for Ella-Jayne was immediately whisked off for her first of two surgeries to repair the condition, consisting of a hole in her heart.

Despite the scary circumstances of her birth, in an interview last summer James, 33, credited his daughter for giving the couple a newfound “perspective on what’s important in life.” He went on to add,

“You can never plan anything in life, and never take anything for granted.”

Ella-Jayne died at her parents’ Hampshire, England, home last week. The couple are said to be ”devastated” by the loss, according to a statement from Sarah’s spokeswoman, who adds “it’s been very hard for them both.”

Ella-Jayne is their first child.

Telly star Sarah Parish was “devastated” last night after the death of her baby daughter.

Eight-month-old Ella-Jayne lost her battle for life after being born with a hole in her heart.

Cutting It star Sarah, 40, is married to actor James Murray, 33, who she met on the set of the BBC drama.

Ella-Jayne — who was born five weeks early by emergency Caesarean section last May — died at the couple’s home in Hampshire last week.

A spokeswoman for Sarah said: “It’s been very hard for them both.”

TV land has been much more monogamous - but far less exciting - without them. Now Mistresses is back for a second series - and happily the love lives of 30-something friends Siobhan, Trudi, Katie and Jessica are more tangled than ever. We talk seduction and infidelity with actresses Orla Brady, Sharon Small, Sarah Parish, and Shelley Conn

'I COULD NEVER BE CELIBATE'

Sarah Parish, 40, plays high-flying GP Katie Ronan. She’s recovering from the fallout of seducing a married terminally ill patient and helping him die, before falling in love with his son.

Katie’s sworn herself to celibacy in this series. Have you ever done the same?
Not exactly. There have been times when I haven’t had a boyfriend, but I’ve never made the decision to be celibate.

Before you married, were you obsessed with finding The One?
Having a boyfriend was never that important to me. I was more interested in working and having fun. I was never the kind of woman who went hunting for guys. I think they’re a bit scary!

Are you saying you’ve never chatted up a guy?
I’d be hopeless! Katie’s the same. She’s not a preying woman – it’s her emotions that get her into situations. Nobody can control who they fall in love with.

Come on, then! If you could have an affair, who would you choose?
I wouldn’t. I’ve got my gorgeous hubby James Murray (her former co-star in Cutting It). Who could be better than the man I love?

So how do you seduce Mr Murray?
I’m not a candles, red wine and lingerie person. There’s nothing less sexy than someone trying to be sexy. If you feel that the moment’s right, it’s right. I don’t do anything in particular, but if I did Jim would probably say: “What are you doing?”!