Amanda Donohoe

Amanda Donohoe
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Amanda Donohoe

Amanda Donohoe and Kris Marshall take on London's murderous underworld in chilling new series for ITV, Murder City.Amanda chats about her new role and why after twelve years of living in Hollywood, she wanted nothing more than to come home.

BIOGRAPHYAmanda first came to fame in 1986, aged twenty-three, when she was picked to play Lucy Irvine in the film Castaway opposite Oliver Reed.To the shock of the audiences in those days, both actors were stark naked for a large part of the film.She went on to star in several successful films including Liar Liar, The Lair of the White Worm and The Madness of King George, and numerous TV productions, her most famous role being her Golden Globe winning turn as gay lawyer CJ Lamb in LA Law.Last year, Amanda received critical acclaim for her role in The Graduate in the West End, in which she followed the likes of Kathleen Turner and Jerry Hall with a stint as infamous seductress Mrs Robinson.Amanda Donohoe plays DI Susan Alembic in her British TV debut.
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Amanda Donohoe as DI Susan Alembic:Placed in the suspects' hot-seat, DI Susan Alembic is one detective you would not want to cross.Underneath the gentle approach and wry wit, Alembic is as sharp as a knife and will not relinquish her hold until her suspects are firmly behind bars. 'She's an iron fist in a velvet glove,' smiles Amanda. 'She's not meant to be bossy, but she is bloody good at her job, despite operating in a man's world.But despite all that, I wanted to find a soft approach to her.I like her as a character very much.She's a nice woman - it's kind of difficult to have authority and be liked, but I hope I've captured that balance.'

Her relationship with DS Stone baffles her superiors, yet no-one can deny that they make an impressive double act. 'She thinks he's got it all sorted out.She has a career and authority and then along comes this bloke Luke Stone.I think he wakes her up to her intuition and to embrace his cryptic way of thinking… not that she didn't have this at all before but it sort of got lost on the career ladder.He provides her with the challenge that wasn't necessarily there before.' Most male-female detective duos have a sexual 'will they, won't they' element to their relationship - Mulder and Scully; Dempsey and Makepiece; Maddie and David in Moonlighting.Are Alembic and Stone destined to share a near-kiss experience in the last episode? 'I think it's more of a mental relationship rather than a physical one.The chemistry is there but, for this series certainly, it's doesn't have anywhere to go.I think that if anything ever happened between them, it would change things dramatically.The nicest thing about them is that he's like the kid brother, rather than the lover, she wants.'

Amanda is happy to be back working in the UK (she lived in LA for a while). 'I really wanted to work back in England for two reasons.Firstly, the theatre is very much part of my professional life and that's where I learn to grow as an actor.As soon as I had finished filming Murder City, I was thinking about what theatre would be the most interesting and challenging for me.Secondly, I wanted to be back on television and I knew Britain was the place to find a fantastic role in that industry.'

AMANDA AND LONDON:Murder City is set in Amanda's home town, London.And after 12 years of living in Hollywood, she wanted nothing more than to be back from America. 'I lived a Hollywood dream and had an amazing time, but I wanted to be back here, possible because my parents were getting old.Plus, London is still the most fabulous city in the world', say Amanda. 'Coming back at this age and rediscovering my home town is so much more exciting than it was when I was younger'.It was 1989 when Amanda left, the year the property market crashed as interest rates soared to 15%. 'I almost lost everything.It was a very scary time'.

AMANDA AND RELATIONSHIPS:Unlike Amanda's character who's married with a child, Amanda who had a relationship with British Director Nick Broomfield for five years, is enjoying being single.One of her first boyfriends was eighties pop star Adam Ant.She met him at 15 and they dated until she was 19.