Amelia Bullmore, 62, is an actor and writer known for roles in Coronation Street, I’m Alan Partridge, Ashes to Ashes, Twenty Twelve, Happy Valley and Riot Women. She also appeared in and wrote episodes of Scott & Bailey and wrote for This Life. In 2005, her first play, Mammals, co-won the Susan Smith Blackburn award. From 10 to 31 October she stars in Margaret Atwood’s play The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. She is married to actor Paul Higgins, has two daughters and lives in London.
On Marriage and Meeting Paul Higgins
Bullmore met her husband while performing in Romeo and Juliet. “We met doing Romeo and Juliet. We weren’t Romeo and Juliet – it wasn’t that tidy,” she said. Reflecting on the best kiss of her life, she recalled: “It was shortly after the worst kiss, with Paul in 1992, a very awkward wooden kiss, and then, later that same night, take two was much better.”
Personal Reflections and Habits
Bullmore described her happiest moments as being in or just out of the sea. Her most embarrassing moment involved gossiping about someone and it getting back to them. She listed chipping in and overtalking as the trait she most deplores in herself, and not being direct as the trait she most deplores in others.
Her most treasured possession is a necklace her mother gave her when she was 14. She named holidays as the most expensive thing she has bought, mentioning a “splash-out in Venice at Christmas” following the first year without both her parents. Her superpower would be to split in two, allowing her to make soup while finishing work.
Career and Family Life
Bullmore’s celebrity crush is Alan Shearer, noting that her husband calls her when he appears on TV, “which is kind but needless, as I can identify Alan’s voice from anywhere in the house.” Her greatest love includes her family and friends, with special mention for Paul Higgins “for staying power and jokes.” She also highlighted love of colleagues as under-recognised.
Her biggest disappointment was the London Eye, as she had expected the cabs to be open and to travel at speed. Her closest brush with the law came as a young driver after drinking cider, with bald tyres and an unsafe approach to a roundabout; she was let off. She would not adjust having more sex, money or fame. On death, she said: “I can’t wait to find out. I can actually.”
