Sunday Magazine – August 18, 2019

S MAGAZINE ★ 18 AUGUST 2019 27

INTERVIEW

With season two on the way,

season one ended on a cliffhanger

and Freema didn’t know if she’d

be back for the second season

• and she’s not at liberty to say
  much about the new series except
  that “there’s gonna be some big
  changes happening”.
  Did she find the suspense
  exciting or nerve-racking? “I find it
  really exciting. I have a friend
  whose lifestyle is very different to
  mine and she says, ‘How do you go
  to bed at night not knowing where
  your next pay cheque is going to
  come from, which country you’re
  going to be in and what your life is
  going to be like in five years time?’
  “My response is, ‘How do you
  go to bed each night knowing
  exactly the answer to all of those
  questions?’ I’ve been so fortunate
  to have such diversity in my
  career. You have to be someone
  who’s OK with change. If not, then
  don’t pick acting as a career.”
  Freema played a medical
  student in Doctor Who and its
  Torchwood spin-off. “So people on
  social media are saying to me this
  is Martha Jones graduating now
  because it was only at the end
  that she qualified,” she smiles.
  “This could be her after-Cardiff life
  and in a way there are similarities
  because she was very together
  and quite headstrong.”
  The actress was born in London
  to an Iranian mother and a
  Ghanaian father (they split when
  she was young) and was educated
  at a convent school where she
  toyed with the idea of becoming
  a marine biologist. But a summer
  stint at theatre school soon put
  paid to that. Hooked on acting,
  she studied drama and performing
  arts at Middlesex University.
  After graduating in 2000 she
  played chef Lola Wise in the
  Crossroads reboot and popped up
  in The Bill and Silent Witness
  before hopping into David
  Tennant’s Tardis in 2007. She left
  the role after a 2010 Christmas
  special but still gets stopped in
  the street by fans. She also gets a
  lot of Law & Order shout-outs and
  attention from Sense8’s cult
  following. “When people come up
  to me I always like to try and
  guess what show they’re going to

want to talk about. And what I really

love is how loyal the fans are and

how they’ll support you in your next

venture, even if it’s not necessarily

up their street.”

The streets of New York are

where she is mostly to be found

these days, although she returns

to London as often as her filming

schedules will allow. I ask what

she most enjoys when she’s in the

UK and she beams, “Oh mate, I’ve

gotta watch my Coast Vs Country

and Escape To The Country, have

my cups of tea...

“It just has a different vibe. This

is my home fundamentally and it

always will be. Getting off the

plane, just to hear the voices and

the London sound – it makes me

realise that when I’m here I don’t

have to give things as much

thought. I know what I’m doing

and I can navigate easily.”

Familiarity has its downside,

though. “You can fall into a little

bit of life complacency when you

know where you like going and

what you like doing.” That’s why

she has enjoyed relocating to New

York. “Suddenly you’re in this new

backdrop and you can almost

rediscover yourself. I was alone

there, although I never felt alone

because this production couldn’t

have been more welcoming. But

I walked the streets by myself

and I think it’s sometimes healthy

to rock your own boat.”

She likes the idea of putting

down roots in New York City. She

has taken out a two-year lease on

an apartment in Brooklyn, which

suggests that even if she’s not

back for season two of New

Amsterdam she has other projects

in the pipeline there.

Freema starts each day with

yoga and relaxes by reading books

(she has five on the go at the

moment) and doing crosswords.

“I have them strewn all over my

apartment, half-finished,” she

says, but guffaws at the prospect

of completing the New York

Times’ famously tricky crossword.

“Honey, I haven’t graduated to

that stage yet. I’m just a novice.

Forget about it.”

She is also into cryotherapy. “I

freeze myself. It’s addictive,” she

says. Likewise massage. “Anything

to do with body treatments I used

to think of as luxuries. But when

you get older in life and start to

feel little aches and pains, things

like deep tissue massages are all

about self-care. We do long days

and long shoots on the show so

you need to constantly be in a

state of good health.”

Season one of New Amsterdam is

streaming now on Amazon Prime

Video. Season two is coming soon.

Freema as Dr

Helen Sharpe in

New Amsterdam

with co-star

Ryan Eggold

As Martha Jones

with David Tennant

in Doctor Who

Freema and the

cast of Law

& Order: UK

●S