Tamzin couldn’t say no to The Doctor

Tamzin Outhwaite has revealed her new showbiz secret and mum’s the word.

The former EastEnders star has guested in this season of Doctor Who but she says having two young daughters has changed her world.

Tamzin and actor husband Tom Ellis already had four-year-old Florence and were thrilled by Marnie’s arrival last August.

“A lot of stuff is filmed away from London these days which limits what I can do,” Tamzin told The Sunday Post.

“I can do things away for a short time or film for longer if it’s in London.

“I don’t feel like I’ve lost my ambition, I still love what I do. But it’s completely different now.

“Sometimes I say to my agent not to even tell me about jobs so I don’t get excited.

“The bottom line is that my kids need me more than any production. So I say no to a lot of things.”

Tamzin says she and Miranda star Tom need to have a structured routine with two young kids to look after.

“We try to make sure one of us is around at morning and night-times which are important,” she confides.

“Ideally we’ll try and not be away working at the same time but sometimes acting doesn’t work like that.

“We can both be around and have childcare, too, or be stretched on other sides of the world.

“Florence adores having a little sister. She’s just in love with her. She’s slightly overbearing at the minute and sometimes you have to say, ‘OK, she’s been kissed enough now.’”

Filming the Doctor Who episode in Cardiff last November was Tamzin’s first sortie back into acting after Marnie’s birth.

And she says there was no way she was turning the job down.

“It was a massive thrill, it’s one of those things you want to tick off on your CV,” said the friendly 42-year-old actress.

“It’s one of the BBC’s flagship shows. EastEnders was a flagship, too, and massive for me, so it just felt right.

“My Doctor Who memories are of Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee but when I went on set I didn’t know enough about the monsters.

“There were Cybermen in this and when one came on for the first time it was honestly really scary.”

It’s more than a decade since Tamzin took leave of EastEnders and Melanie.

“It’s 11 years since I left and I don’t think a return is right now but if I was asked to go back in the future I would consider it.”