Amanda Redman plays Superintendent Sandra Pullman
Amanda Redman is glad that she doesn't have much in common with Superintendent
Pullman in New Tricks.
"I feel quite sorry for her because she sacrifices everything in her
personal life for the job. I can't imagine having a life like that.
Although I'm very focused and concentrated on my work, I do have a life
outside it.
"Sandra doesn't have a great sense of humour, she's terrified of letting
her hair down and she won't let anyone in. She is vulnerable because
she's a woman in a man's world, trying to make it work.
"She treads a very fine line - the boss gives her a hard time
and the boys give her a hard time, so she's sometimes in a no-win situation.
"I have a child and she doesn't have a child and that is a big part
of her life that she's missing. Also, the boys all have their own lives
but because Sandra doesn't have a core of friends she can trust and
rely on, she ends up on her own. I find that very sad and thankfully
nothing like my life."
Adds Amanda: "I haven't played anyone quite like her before. But as
time goes on she is becoming a little bit more like the boys.
"More and more in this series she is taken in different directions.
They're a very bad influence - just like in real life!"
Amanda enjoyed returning to work with her co-stars Dennis Waterman,
Alun Armstrong and James Bolam.
"Actors are incredibly generous and great people, particularly those
I work with on New Tricks. We have such fun together, although I try
very hard to rein them in and keep them behaving well.
"They have a nickname for me which is Boudy - short for Boudicca.
I can't think why they call me that!"
Filming a scene involving maggots was less enjoyable.
"We have an episode which features fishing and it meant having maggots
in the UCOS fridge. They got everywhere. Sandra was disgusted and so
was I because I hate anything like that.
"I've also got an absolute phobia of rats and I once turned down
a role in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade because it included a scene
where rats would be crawling over my head. I really can't bear rats
so that was that."
Luckily Amanda has had no shortage of good roles in her career. Her
many credits include At Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ With The Braithwaites, Hope & Glory, Blonde
Bombshell, Close Relations, Suspicion, Dangerfield, Sexy Beast and For
Queen And Country.
She is now reprising her role from the film Mike Bassett: England Manager
in a spin-off series for ITV1.
Amanda lives in West London with her 17-year-old daughter Emily from
her marriage to Hustle actor Robert Glenister.
In her spare time, she helps the next generation of actors at her
drama school in Ealing, the Artists Theatre School.
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