The Meet the new curvaceous Anna Friel ....... Bloomin' Marvellous 

Anna Friel’s not known for her curves. The elfin actress and former party girl usually looks like a puff of wind would blow her over – but not in her latest role. She looks positively voluptuous in this week’s one-off romantic comedy Watermelon – so called because Anna’s character thinks she looks like one when she’s pregnant! And, as we catch up with Anna at the end of a long day’s filming, she proudly shows off her new, boosted boobs.

“They’re not mine – they’re my false feeding breasts!” giggles Anna. “I’m meant to have just had a baby, but I look too skinny, so I have to drink loads of waster before each take to give me a bigger belly”.

Anna plays Claire Ryan, whose boyfriend James has no idea that the unborn child he thinks is his is, in fact, the result of Claire’s previous relationship. He ex, Adam, had walked out on her when he realised that he preferred life in his native Dublin, but Clair never let him know she was pregnant. And when James and Adam find out what’s going on, Claire has a lot of explaining to do…

“It’s a light role, which I was ready for as I’ve done a lot of heavy stuff recently. It’s a comedy and we’ve had a laugh, “says Anna, 26,who received praise for her stage roles in Lulu at London’s Almeida Theatre and Closer on New York’s Broadway.

It’s eight years since Anna walked away from the role that made her famous – Brookie’s Beth Jordache. She then took nearly a year off before setting her heart on a movie career, a strategy that paid off. She’s been working steadily ever since on films such as Land Girls (1998), Mad Cows (1999), and the soon to be released Timeline in which she stars alongside her actor boyfriend David Thewlis.

“I’ve surfaced, then hidden away a bit, then come back, which is not a bad thing”, says Anna, whose last TV role saw her playing a photographer in BBC1’s environmental thriller Fields of Gold. “I don’t want people to get sick of me. I’ve tried to play a wide range of characters so I don’t get pigeon-holed and, so far, it seems to be working.”

“It’s great. There are people I still want to work with, and I want to make the film that everyone sees. But when I’m not working, I love going for walks with David, or watching movies back-to-back in bed”.

-Karen Hockney