Caroline Paterson

"Ruth Fowler"

SWEET CAROLINE

Excerpts from Tim Wilson's interview with Caroline Paterson (Ruth Fowler) in the latest issue (No. 17) of the Walford Gazette:

"Ruth is a good person. She doesn't have a good relationship at all with her family in Scotland and so she wants to enjoy as good a relationship with Mark and his family as she can. Ruth attended college in Edinburgh, probably as a convenient way to get away from her family in Glasgow -- especially her stifling Minister-father."

"Ruth fell in love with Mark very quickly. At the beginning, she was a lost person looking for a reason to settle down. And she found it. I actually felt a bit lost at the time, myself, when I moved down to London from Glasgow to start work on EastEnders. Like Ruth, I hardly knew any people here."

On whether Caroline watched EastEnders before she landed the part?

"Yes, mostly when I was unemployed. Michelle Fowler was my favourite character. It really freaked me out to suddenly be sitting in Michelle's house, NEXT TO MICHELLE, saying "Listen Michelle, I think you should............." (FURTHER ADVICE FOR MICHELLE IS DROWNED OUT BY SCOTTISH LAUGHTER.)

On whether Todd Carty (Mark) is as good a guy as everyone says he is:

"They're all true. He's absolutely brilliant. We met the day before we started working together. I had a big crush on him from a TV series he'd starred in when he was a teenager, called Tucker's Luck. All the girls in my school thought he was lovely. Todd's so easygoing and just great to work with. He and his wife just had their first child and they're going to be wonderful parents. "

On whether Ruth should have walked out on Mark for risking their life savings on a card game:

"I was happy that Ruth gave him an extremely hard time about it at all."

On how Paterson would change Ruth's character if she had her druthers:

"Child minder by day -- psycho slut by night! Great, I'd love it! I know what you mean about this mysterious, secretive thing. I think that's sometimes what I find odd about her. She takes on other people's problems, be it Mark or Michelle or anybody else, but does not reveal much about herself in the meantime. Michelle can sit down at the breakfast table with a problem to share with Ruth and all Ruth does is nod and be sympathetic. Ruth doesn't say anything like "Right, Michelle, that happened to me too, once. That's how I react when a friend or a relative confides in me. I think there's something kind of strange there, where Ruth's concerned. (LAUGHS.)

On Caroline's favourite EastEnders episode?

"Not one that I've been in, yet! My favorite so far is probably the one when Grant found out about Sharon and Phil. Grant crying in the car when he hears the tape....the reactions of everybody in the pub when he plays it ..... Brilliant!"

On how the the public reacts to her when she's out shopping, or whatever:

"They're very nice to me. They usually say "Oh, you're really Scottish!"

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