A perfect moment for Martine McCutcheon ahead of Shrewsbury gig

“Don’t worry,” we joke. “We’ll go easy on you and try to avoid asking the questions you’ve been asked 15 times so far today.”

She laughs.

“Thanks. That would be nice.”

She’s on the phone to promote her new tour, Up Close and Personal, which follows the release of her recent album, Lost and Found.

The tour will allow her to reflect on how she first found fame as Tiffany Mitchell in EastEnders in the 1990s, before releasing her platinum-selling debut solo album You, Me & Us in 1999, which contained the number one single Perfect Moment.

West End and TV roles followed and along the way she became the nation’s sweetheart. In 2003, Martine memorably played Natalie opposite Hugh Grant in Love Actually.

Now 41, happily married, mother of a two-year-old, the time felt right to return to the studio. Martine has co-written most of the songs on the new album with her husband, the multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jack McManus, and she has never sounded better.

Martine is back not only musically; she also reprised her role in the Comic Relief reunion of Love Actually last year and has just wrapped a film with Alan Davies called The Bromley Boys.

However, it’s music that’s her main focus. Her first single Say I’m Not Alone, is a song like nothing Martine has ever recorded before; big, bold, brash, merging clanging guitars, thumping drums and a hard hitting lyric. Other album highlights include the rocky Any Sign Of Life, the beautiful Stay With Me and album closer Rebellion.

The album is a deeply personal record that deals with everything from relationships to an illness that saw her unable to work. “Life brought this album about very gradually,” explains Martine. “It was a really unconscious thing; I started writing the songs at a time in my life when I’d lost everything.”

The show will be a chance to hear Martine perform songs from Lost and Found in a stripped back setting, as well as some of her previous hits and fan-favourites.

“I can’t wait to play,” she says, looking forward to a headline gig at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn tomorrow.

“I’ve been really thrilled at the response to Lost and Found. Doing well is not something that you can take for granted in this industry so it’s lovely to be able to do something that people like.

“And I love the shows. That’s what it’s all about it. I love performing live and interacting with the audience. What I like about this tour is that I’ve got my own show and I’m engaging with my own fans. It’s not just music. There is also a Q&A and I enjoy the conversational part as well as the music. I’m excited by it all.”

Martine loves the fact that she’ll be able to see the whites of her fans’ eyes in an intimate setting.

“I love it when it comes from the public because everything seems that bit fresher.

“And it’s lovely to have creative control. I feel like I know where the order of things should be. It’s instinctive. You know what you need to do where. It’s a real thrill to create a show that’s mine. At this stage of my career, it’s lovely that I’m still able to do these things.

“To be honest I just wanted the record to chart. Because I’m very much a Radio 2 artist and it’s very grown up and it’s not young, hip and trendy. For me, it’s about great songs and great lyrics. You don’t know where that’s going to fall in the market place.

“I’d been away and off the road and my name wasn’t out there. The fact the shows have sold out and the record went top 20 has been remarkable because you can’t buy that stuff.

“For me, the music is always a bigger release than just talking to someone about it. It resonates differently, it’s deeper when it comes from music. To let it out is phenomenal. You deal with your own demons and emotional attachments during music. Music is magical and the feedback is wow.”