KATCHING MY I: Jessica Raine admits she 'doesn't know what it means to be sexy' as she stars in new drama alongside David Walliams

Friday 24 July 2015

Jessica Raine admits she 'doesn't know what it means to be sexy' as she stars in new drama alongside David Walliams

PUBLISHED: 19:16, 23 July 2015 | UPDATED: 20:19, 23 July 2015

She's known for her role as Jenny Lee in BBC One drama Call the Midwife, and even though she's out of her nursing uniform for her new part in Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime - Jessica Raine admits that she doesn't 'get' what it means to be sexy.

The actress, 32, who is set to appear in the whodunnit alongside David Walliams, has revealed she makes a conscious decision to avoid 'sexy' roles because she doesn't understand the concept.

'Just running through all the scripts I've read recently, I don't like when a character is meant to be sexy, because I don't really know what that means,' Jessica explained.

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In costume: Jessica Raines, 32, has revealed that she makes a conscious decision to avoid 'sexy' roles, as she doesn't understand the concept

'"She is sexy. Everybody wants to be this girl" - what is that? You're attractive or sexy as a by -product of something else.

'You can be manipulative and it's quite sexy or you can love life and that's what's sexy, but sexy as a thing - I don't really get that.'

Jessica admitted she's tired of the cliché way in which women are portrayed on television and in cinema.

She told The Times newspaper: 'When I watched Jurassic Park, Laura Dern was incredible. She was in shorts and a shirt. She had her hair pulled back and she was running around in trainers, and I was like, "Oh God. And she was really clever, she was a scientist."'

A face for drama: Jessica, who played Jenny Lee in Heidi Thomas's Call the Midwife in 2012, is pictured above in her period dress

'In this one Bryce Dallas Howard is head of a corporation. She's incredibly powerful, but with that she's very cut-off and I think it's a little bit of a cliche. And I think every woman in it cried. I was like, "These are scientists. Why is everyone crying?"

Jessica, who made an interesting point about the representation of women on both the small and big screen, will play detective Tuppence Beresford for the next six Sundays BBC One, as part of the Agatha Christie 125th birthday celebrations.

David, whose marriage to Lara Stone fell apart earlier this year, plays Tuppence's husband Tommy in the short-running drama series, as he credits their strong bond to their crime-fighting abilities.

Enter Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, Christie’s fictional beekeeping married couple who find themselves in a world of espionage and murder in a new six-part BBC1 series

Tommy and Tuppence have been rediscovered by the Britain’s Got Talent judge, who immediately got the blessing of Agatha Christie Ltd to make the series.

‘I’ve been a fan of Agatha Christie since I saw Murder On The Orient Express when I was little,’ says David.

‘I didn’t see the twist coming and I was haunted by it,' he told the MailOnline this month.

Partners In Crime starts July 26 on BBC1.