The new A&E anaesthetist likes to knock herself out with a mixture of canine care, running and playing Beethoven sonatas.

 

My day has been transformed by a greyhound named Gracie.  She was actually called Geraldine when she was a racer, but I like Gracie better, though I also call her the Royal One and Miss Gentle of the Universe because she's so graceful.  She's fantastic - a three-and-a-half-year-old black-and-white bitch who never won a race and had not been inside a house or walked up stairs until I got her from the Walthamstow Stadium Owners Association rescue kennels in March.  She chose me, really - she just came bounding over and put her paws on my shoulders.  How could I refuse her?

 

I've always loved dogs.  I used to have a Newfoundland called Bear but it wasn't fair to leave her alone while I was out filming all day so she eventually went back to her breeders.  This time I wanted a dog that I could take with me to work - and I was advised that a greyhound would be ideal because they are gentle, calm and sensitive.  Gracie is certainly sensitive - living with a washing machine gives her a nervous breakdown!  I took her to the beach at Camber Sands near Rye the other day and she was fine until somebody decided to fly a kite.  It frightened her so much that she ran down the beach for a mile and a half.

 

We're enjoying getting to know each other now that I've finished six months of concentrated work on A&E in Manchester (she plays new anaesthetist Ruth Cole).  That was one of the happiest jobs I've ever had, but now I'm back at home at my little Victorian terraced house in east London and getting into a new routine with Gracie.

 

I take her for a walk every day to Epping Forest or to the Wansted ponds - it's surprisingly rural and there are kingfishers, cormorants and herons.  Every Sunday we wander down to the Columbia Road flower market in Bethnal Green, which is a feast of colour.  I always buy great bunches of flowers for the house and then potter around the junk shops.

 

A typical home day starts around eightish with the "Today" programme on Radio 4.  Then I try to wake the Royal One, have a coffee and go out and get "The Guardian."  After a read and the cryptic crossword I'll take Gracie out for her morning run in the forest. 

 

In the afternoon I might do some writing on my Laptop in my little conservatory dining room - it's very quiet and looks out on to a tiny terrace, which is not really big enough to be called a garden.  I'm currently working on some scripts for a drama series and I really love sitting there and listening to the blackbirds and enjoying the secret pleasures of a quiet afternoon (like being able to make a cup of tea whenever you want!).  Or I might go to the gym for a run on the treadmill - it's kinder to the knees than the pavement.  I do 5 or 6km most days and sometimes 10.  I took up running a couple of years ago and I'm immeasurably fitter; I've lost half a stone and my blood pressure is down.  I'm taking part in the Flora Light Women's Challenge around Hyde Park later in the year.  My other passion is the piano.  I try to have a lesson every week with my teacher, the concert pianist Neil Crossland, and I've passed my grade 3 exam with distinction and now I'm on to grade 4.  Beethoven sonatas are my favourites though it doesn't come easily and I have to work hard on those pesky scales and arpeggios.

 

I'm a vegetarian, but food doesn't really do it for me (though I love having a good chat with friends in restaurants), so the most I cook for myself is usually pasta and veggie sausages.  I go out quite a lot - I play backgammon about three times a week with my friend Julia - but, at the moment, Sunday nights are in because I'm addicted to "The West Wing" and "24."  I think they're just sensational.

 

Interveiw by David Gillard.