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