0:00:02 > 0:00:06- Hello. Welcome to A Taste Of My Life, the show that serves up people's lives on a plate.
0:00:26 > 0:00:32Food provides an almost edible journey back in time, from the smells and flavours of yesterday
0:00:32 > 0:00:38through to the ingredients and tastes of today - which is why I will dine out with today's guest,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41both through the food they love and the food they hate.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45It may come as a surprise to fans of today's very familiar face
0:00:45 > 0:00:48but she's already had a past career as a comedy writer.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53It's got a tiny keyboard and I mean really, really tiny.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55Go on, give it a go.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59She's been on our TV screens recently
0:00:59 > 0:01:03trying to bring about the end of the world as Dr Who's arch enemy.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05- Cancel it.- Oh, just as the legends would have it.
0:01:05 > 0:01:12- The Doctor lording it over us, assuming alien authority over the rights of man.- Let me show you.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17But she'll probably be best known as the most famous murderess ever to grace our TV screens,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21drawing over 17 million viewers into her web of deceit
0:01:21 > 0:01:24after murdering her screen husband, Dirty Den.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26Ah...agh!
0:01:30 > 0:01:36Yes, today's guest who'll be joining me in the kitchen is actress Tracy-Ann Oberman.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40And providing she doesn't go into labour, coming up in today's show...
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Tracy-Ann's mum tells us what she really thought
0:01:43 > 0:01:47of her daughter playing Chrissie Watts in EastEnders.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50She became this horrible character.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52I felt very uncomfortable to watch.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57An old college friend hurls her in at the deep end with a culinary blast from her past.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Well this is a surprise to me because I think I was quite drunk through most of my student years!
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Now you know what it's like to be me!
0:02:05 > 0:02:09And Tracy tells us what it really was like being her.
0:02:09 > 0:02:15Murder, betrayal, sex, love, vengeance, I got to play all these huge emotions.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25Tracy-Ann Oberman, welcome to A Taste Of My Life. You were born in London, in North London.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29- Yes.- And was it to a traditional Jewish family?
0:02:29 > 0:02:35Yeah, it was in some ways, I mean I would say we were culturally Jewish.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Food was quite a big part of our lives.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41My grandparents were first-generation immigrants and my mother's side
0:02:41 > 0:02:45had come from Russia, my father's side were from Poland.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47So who did most of the cooking?
0:02:47 > 0:02:53- Mum cooked?- Mum, Grandma, my Great Grandmother, so it was a very big female tradition of cooking.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56And the sort of things that Mum cooked?
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I mean the things that you remember from your childhood?
0:02:59 > 0:03:02School dinners were a luxury because we had whole-wheat pasta,
0:03:02 > 0:03:08where all I wanted was spaghetti, alphabetti spaghetti. We never had alphabetti spaghetti.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12It was all things like health, health - brown pasta - and I was like, "What's this?
0:03:12 > 0:03:15I want white pasta." We had brown bread, wholemeal bread
0:03:15 > 0:03:20when everybody else had Mother's Pride. I felt very deprived.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23So at school when you get semolina, I'd be like "Fantastic!"
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Shepherd's pie. "Fantastic!"
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Thinking about the food you were eating, was any of it,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32- was there anywhere you snuck off to and ate out away from home?- Yes.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36The height of sophistication for me, so exciting on a Saturday night,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40a little gang of us would go up to Hampstead to the Milk Churn.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43- The Milk Churn!- And I don't know if anybody remembers.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46The Milk Churn. It was like a sort of deli,
0:03:46 > 0:03:52done in the style of a sort of American diner, I suppose, where they had milk churns.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58And we would have potato skins filled with sour cream or different dips.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02I mean this was like the height of sophistication at 11, 12, 13.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08As well as potato skins, for Tracy I'm also making stuffed potatoes.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13I always use King Edwards as they give the crunchiest skins
0:04:13 > 0:04:19and remember, always use the insides of your spuds to make the fillings.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23- Potato skins were quite new at that point because I didn't know them as a kid.- Revolutionary!
0:04:23 > 0:04:24Revolutionary.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29The thought of a deep-fried potato skin, and you could get a chilli filling, sour cream filling,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33you could get all sorts, but I always remember the sour cream.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Alongside sour cream,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39another classic filling is tuna, mayo and sweet corn.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46A great tip is to wet and salt your potatoes well before baking.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50This way they'll crisp up nicely.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56And you'd have a malt chocolate milkshake, like a proper old-style milkshake.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59- The real thing?- The real thing.
0:04:59 > 0:05:05Because milkshakes for me when I was a kid, it was what the goody-goodies had, was milkshake. We wanted pop.
0:05:05 > 0:05:06With a straw.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09With a straw in a proper glass, it was all slightly chunky.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18There are some to dip in a sour cream dip.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21- Fantastic. Can I?- Yeah, just... - This is it...
0:05:21 > 0:05:25I'm 13, I'm the most sophisticated woman on the planet!
0:05:25 > 0:05:28- They were sophisticated, weren't they?- I mean, who'd seen...
0:05:28 > 0:05:32who'd have thought to scoop out a potato and deep fry it?
0:05:32 > 0:05:37- Only Americans.- Only Americans. But it's that thing of... - And the soured cream. Mmm...
0:05:37 > 0:05:42It's that thing of picking up something that is very...
0:05:42 > 0:05:44- naughty.- Mmm.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49When you see your daughter academically doing very well at school
0:05:49 > 0:05:52and you think "yes", you have a plan for them
0:05:52 > 0:05:56and they turn round and say "Well actually, I want to be an actress."
0:05:56 > 0:05:58There is something I think when your parents,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02because they want to protect you, care about you and want you to be safe,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05to go into something so insecure goes against everything.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10Why would you do that? Why would you go into something where there's no rationale behind it?
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Where there's no career ladder, where it's all up to the lap of the gods.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18Try telling your dad, who's an engineer, that you want to do cookery at school!
0:06:18 > 0:06:20I bet that went down well.
0:06:20 > 0:06:21It went down very well!
0:06:27 > 0:06:32- So you weren't there tugging at Mum's sleeves saying can I help?- No.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Can I just eat it, or can I lick the bowl with the chocolate sauce...
0:06:35 > 0:06:41Me and my sister were never that interested. She'd rustle up these amazing things and we'd eat them.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Had no interest in how they were made!
0:06:43 > 0:06:48But I think that was because it was very much, "Come on, we're cooking now, get out."
0:06:48 > 0:06:52- I think Mum has actually cooked something for you. - Has she?- I think, yes.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54We're making chocolate roulade.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59She was exceedingly clever from a very young age. I think...
0:06:59 > 0:07:02not that she particularly liked school,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04because her mind was always ticking,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09ticking, ticking. She always had ideas and thoughts above her age group.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11I was a freak! I was the freak child!
0:07:11 > 0:07:17When Tracy was little, I mean food was, you know, one thing, we sat down, but...
0:07:17 > 0:07:20teatime was very, very important.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25One day it would be scones and jam, another day would be muffins
0:07:25 > 0:07:28and there would always be some special sort of cake.
0:07:28 > 0:07:35But the roulade really came a bit later and Tracy one evening saw this
0:07:35 > 0:07:37wonderful chocolate. "What is it?"
0:07:37 > 0:07:42I said, "Chocolate roulade, but don't touch it." She said, "I hope there's some over," and there was.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47and the next day she had some for her tea and that was it - roulade forever.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50She wasn't a girl that particularly wanted to be
0:07:50 > 0:07:54surrounded by a crowd. She had one or two friends
0:07:54 > 0:07:57but books was her love, her head was always in a book.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59I did have friends!
0:07:59 > 0:08:03She wouldn't have been that little but she was still young.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Oh, what was the man, the erm...
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Michael Crawford, doing...Betty?
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Everybody and his dog can do an impression of...
0:08:11 > 0:08:15- Like nobody else could do it. - Oh, my God!
0:08:15 > 0:08:18She'd do that round the table, "Oh Betty, the cat's had a whoopsie."
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Oh...!
0:08:22 > 0:08:23Oh, look at that.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Aw...
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I love my mum. Lovely lady.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31I think the sad thing was I think she came in as a lovely character -
0:08:31 > 0:08:34you know, she was going to pull this family together -
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and then, unfortunately, she became this horrible character!
0:08:37 > 0:08:42I found that very uncomfortable to watch in a way.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44I didn't like that.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49When she did the murder, that night, I remember watching the telly, "Oh no!"
0:08:50 > 0:08:54This is the bit Tracy used to like - the bits where she could lick to bowl after.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Yes! Me and my sister used to fight over that.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Tracy, you're going to be a great mum.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12You're going to bring so much to motherhood and you're going to bring so much to that lovely new life
0:09:12 > 0:09:18that you've got and you will have and you've got so many attributes to impart to a new life.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20I think it's going to be magical.
0:09:20 > 0:09:21Aw...
0:09:24 > 0:09:26You've made me cry!
0:09:30 > 0:09:31Oh, if you only knew...
0:09:31 > 0:09:35It's a terrible thing, the icing sugar normally will go all over you.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37I know, but...
0:09:37 > 0:09:41- That brings back... I'm seven again! - Isn't it just heaven?
0:09:41 > 0:09:44- Fighting my sister for this. Gorgeous.- It's heaven.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53You were doing quite serious acting at that point in the beginning of your career,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56but then there's a big move.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01I did a comedy course with my friend Ashley at the City Lit. I could write comedy.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05I was very good at characters and accents and I remember somebody saw me do some stand-up
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and suddenly I was on Radio Four on every sketch show going.
0:10:08 > 0:10:15I remember Sean Locke had a sketch show called 15 Storeys high and I was the woman for the sketch show.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19I had 30 female characters in one episode, all from South London.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- I had to find different ways and different characters...- You did every one yourself?- Every one.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27I said, "Sean, can one of them come from up North?" "No, London."
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Did you feel at any point you were being a success?
0:10:30 > 0:10:32No, not really.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37I'm a grafter, it was just a job. Every job ends
0:10:37 > 0:10:39and I think, "I'll never work again."
0:10:39 > 0:10:43As long as I was making a living, I was working, I was happy.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Things that come with being successful and working very hard,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53travelling, eating out, all that sort of stuff. I mean, was there time for that?
0:10:53 > 0:10:59There's a meal I really associate with suddenly feeling like a success was when I got into EastEnders.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02My character Chrissie Watts, in spite of everything that'd gone on
0:11:02 > 0:11:06with my co-star and everything had become this huge character.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09I'd been working hard, we'd done the murder of Dirty Den,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13it'd gone out, 17 million viewers had seen it, it was everywhere.
0:11:13 > 0:11:20And I remember a little gang of us girls that'd been working very hard from EastEnders on a rare night out.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24We rang that morning and got a very good table in an exclusive restaurant
0:11:24 > 0:11:31and I remember having - it was fantastic, blackened cod and it was perfectly done.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35I just, "Yeah, maybe I've made it, maybe this is success?"
0:11:35 > 0:11:37And I can order another one if I want.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44The art to this dish is getting the sweet miso mix just right.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Make sure you use pale miso paste
0:11:47 > 0:11:50as the dark stuff is very strong and salty.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04Grill until it browns and then transfer to the oven until it's opaque at the centre.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11So tell me, what was it like getting that part in EastEnders?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13And how did you feel at that moment?
0:12:13 > 0:12:17It's bonkers really, because I'd gone for this audition
0:12:17 > 0:12:23and I was told it was for a regular character's wife, I assumed it was Ian Beale.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28I had a good audition, and thought "They'll get me in for a cameo, maybe I'll play a police woman."
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I got a call saying, "They really liked you, you're to come for screen test."
0:12:32 > 0:12:37I'm expecting to meet Ian Beale and they go, "You are going to be reading with Leslie Grantham."
0:12:37 > 0:12:40My jaw dropped to the floor. I met him, had some banter with him.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42He's quite sarcastic so I batted it back.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46I think they kept the camera rolling and there was quite a bit of chemistry.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51I didn't take any of his nonsense, he didn't take any of mine. And I got the part.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Must have been good once, what went wrong?
0:12:53 > 0:12:57Angie. Sad, mad Angie.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Was she like that when you met her?
0:12:59 > 0:13:00No, she was fun at the start.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04'In 18 months I got to play probably about three years worth of storyline'
0:13:04 > 0:13:06and also epic stuff, I mean really epic.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11It was like, you know Shakespeare, Greek drama, these were huge things,
0:13:11 > 0:13:16murder, betrayals, sex, love, vengeance. I got to play all these huge emotions.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Now you know what it's like to lose the one thing in the world you love most.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Now you know what it's like to be one of us.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Now you know what it's like to be ME!
0:13:27 > 0:13:33- About as different as you can get from helping Dr Who? - Well, you see...
0:13:33 > 0:13:38For some people their biggest dream in life is to walk in to the Queen Vic.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40For mine it was seeing the Tardis.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44- I was a big sci-fi fan as a kid, massive...- You were a real fan? - I love sci-fi. I really do love it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46COMPUTER:On line.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49MACHINE BEEPS
0:13:51 > 0:13:53ALARM BEEPS
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- I saw the very first episode of Dr Who.- Did you?
0:13:58 > 0:14:02- How amazing.- From behind the sofa with my hands over my eyes because I was so scared...
0:14:02 > 0:14:05- The black and white one? - Yes, black and white!
0:14:05 > 0:14:07In the 1840s...
0:14:07 > 0:14:11- This is delicious by the way.- It's black cod.- Gorgeous.- Just gorgeous.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Still to come on A Taste of My Life...
0:14:14 > 0:14:19I quite literally fall to pieces over the food Tracy loves and hates.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Chocolate spread...
0:14:22 > 0:14:25and white bread, apparently, is not very good for you.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Sorry.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31She's surprised by her closest friend, Harvey.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35We're having fairy cakes made by a real fairy...
0:14:35 > 0:14:42And Tracy talks about the pressures of diets, food and being an actress.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46I think it's very, very important to be able to say, you can be normal sized,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51you can be curvy, sexy and still be a woman, you don't have to be stick thin.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Of course you're eating out with girlfriends you work with and stuff,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03but are there any particular friends that you've had for years.
0:15:03 > 0:15:10My really close soul mate is a guy called Harvey. He's the Will to my Grace and vice versa.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13He's like my real soul mate.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17- That's strange because he's sent a little message for you!- Has he?
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Today we are making...
0:15:29 > 0:15:31special, loving fairy cakes
0:15:31 > 0:15:36made by a real fairy...for Tracy.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42I'm going to add the eggs one at a time.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43The zest of an orange...
0:15:43 > 0:15:45I'm so impressed!
0:15:45 > 0:15:50I actually think that when you're cooking you have to start right from the very basics.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53For me, that's finding the right outfit to be cooking in.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59You have to find a matching tie and apron or it's just not going to work.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02Tracy is an amazing girl,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07she's hilarious and fantastic and incredibly talented.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13We understand each other and it's so nice when you have a really deep connection with another person.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15It's true, he's like my soul sister.
0:16:15 > 0:16:16He is.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28My special tool is...this...
0:16:28 > 0:16:33When these things get shown, is Nigel literally sitting there with his head between his hands,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37just going, "What the hell does he think he's doing?!"
0:16:37 > 0:16:40I'm hoping she's watching this and she's proud.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42I'm so proud...
0:16:42 > 0:16:46The bun is in the oven Trace! You're not the only one!
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Really, I think I owe you one, Nige.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03Does that not look like a traditional, proper, '50s cake?
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Harvey, you've excelled yourself.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10I'm going to make chrysanthemums for you -
0:17:10 > 0:17:14as you know, your very favourite flower -
0:17:14 > 0:17:16using these chocolate buttons.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18Oh...
0:17:28 > 0:17:31- It's the thing as well. It's the actual, erm...- Oh my goodness!
0:17:31 > 0:17:37- Isn't that beautiful?- It's his cake stand.- He loves this. He said he'd bought a beautiful cake stand.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Oh, look at all the little buttons.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45- They're nice, aren't they? - He knows me so well.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Love you, Harve!
0:17:54 > 0:17:57So tell me, what sort of cook are you?
0:17:58 > 0:18:04Well, um, I'm not the world's most confident, I'd say, but I like food
0:18:04 > 0:18:10- so you'd have thought I'd be good. - It's a good start.- I love it but I'm not good at following recipes.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14- Instinctive cook, rather than a follow-the-rules cook? - Yes, thank you for that.
0:18:14 > 0:18:20Yes, I'm going to tell my husband that on record, I'm an instinctive cook, not a follow-the-rules cook.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25So, will you tell me a little bit about your college friend, Phil?
0:18:25 > 0:18:32Phil is a very old friend of mine who I lived with at university.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Have you spoken to Phil?
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Well, he's been telling me just a little bit about Tracy-Ann the chef.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Oh, God!
0:18:41 > 0:18:42Just a bit.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47We had a little thing going on in the house, a weekly cooking competition
0:18:47 > 0:18:50of this thing called tuna surprise. We'd take it in turns,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53although I don't actually remember Tracy doing many turns!
0:18:53 > 0:18:57And every week one of us always had to take up the challenge
0:18:57 > 0:19:00of introducing a guest vegetable into the dish of tuna.
0:19:01 > 0:19:08I seem to remember some very over-the-top drama around a bag of carrots with Tracy.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11I'm interested in this tuna surprise.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14I've obviously completely blocked that out of my head.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19I just remember there was something to do with pasta and tuna and...
0:19:19 > 0:19:24something studenty, coming back from the pub being hungover and it was easy to rustle up.
0:19:24 > 0:19:25That's what I remember.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29- It sounds like you've got the recipe just fine.- Tuna, mayonnaise...
0:19:29 > 0:19:31I don't remember the carrot drama!
0:19:31 > 0:19:34And I'm always one for a drama. I don't know.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Remind me of the tuna surprise,
0:19:38 > 0:19:39in fact maybe you'd make it for me?
0:19:39 > 0:19:42- I'll help you. - I can't remember. Oh, Nigel!
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Off to the kitchen.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Phil was talking about your tuna surprise.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58But this is like the thing that you pick up on your way home from the pub -
0:19:58 > 0:20:03the tin of tuna, a tin of sweet corn, the onion - it really is.
0:20:03 > 0:20:09The whole thing is a surprise to me, because I think I was quite drunk through most of my student years!
0:20:09 > 0:20:11This was what we picked up on the way home from the pub
0:20:11 > 0:20:17when you were just that bit ... The surprise would be how to cook it, because I can't remember a thing.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30There's a special way of chopping, isn't there? I remember seeing that.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Where you put your finger so you don't chop it off but you go fast.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Take absolutely no notice. Whatever feels comfortable to you.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41- Hiring someone in.- Hiring someone in(!) We've got someone else.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49It's I've had too much to drink food, and I'm hungry.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51But I'm going to make myself a meal.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56- And it's starting to smell quite good.- It is.- What's so good is it smells delicious.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00- Does all student food have to have tinned tuna?- I think so.- Is there some unwritten...?
0:21:02 > 0:21:07- And a tin of tomatoes!- Let's chuck some other stuff in. - That does look yummy.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Anybody watching this, that is studying somewhere,
0:21:16 > 0:21:23- and can only afford a tin of sweet corn and a tin of tuna...- Who's only sober enough to find a tin of tuna!
0:21:23 > 0:21:25This could save their life!
0:21:30 > 0:21:31Mmm!
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Lovely! Look at that. Delish.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47You have to be drunk, don't you?
0:21:47 > 0:21:49That is really horrible.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00So, I mean, you're pregnant at the moment, heavily so, if I may say.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05This actually looks almost like craving food rather than comfort food.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07- Yeah, worrying! - Are you having cravings?
0:22:08 > 0:22:13I had a very horrible first few months of just being sick all the time, and the only thing I could eat
0:22:13 > 0:22:14was white bread.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17I mean, tahina,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20hummus, jam...
0:22:20 > 0:22:24chocolate spread, Marmite - these are all things that...
0:22:24 > 0:22:31they have that ability to coat your mouth. It's a comforting, sticky...
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Yes. I actually have, in the last few months, craved through this pregnancy,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39like hummus and tahina, there's something about
0:22:39 > 0:22:42the chick pea, savoury, there's something about that.
0:22:42 > 0:22:48Some of this food here actually isn't your comfort food, it's almost the food that you'd actually hate.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52- I've got fizzy drinks, what I used to call pop.- Urgh!- Excuse me -
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Brussels sprouts.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00Urgh - I can't even... The smell of Brussels sprouts is sort of counteracting the joy of eating that.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05In my head, as a kid, I sort of had this thing in my head that olives tasted like eyeballs.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08And Brussels sprouts tasted like ears. I don't know why.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12- Oh, it's the waxiness of them. - The waxy, ear-ness of it all.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Was there a pressure, as an actress, to be disciplined?
0:23:15 > 0:23:20The more normal-looking women on TV, the better it is for the health of the nation.
0:23:20 > 0:23:26It worries me when you see little girls looking at the Americans in Friends - these lollipop heads -
0:23:26 > 0:23:30and looking at the Nicole Ritchies and the Paris Hiltons. These tiny little stick...
0:23:30 > 0:23:34and I think it's wrong. And I think that British TV, God love it,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38and particularly soaps like EastEnders and Coronation Street, have real-sized women.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44I think it's very important to be able to say, you can be normal-sized, curvy, sexy and still be a woman.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46You don't have to be absolutely stick thin.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48So it wasn't so much that. Actually,
0:23:48 > 0:23:53it was more about feeling very tired, and feeling very lethargic, and getting very bloated.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57And then I started to look into it and I found this sort of food!
0:23:59 > 0:24:01So, amazingly, apparently,
0:24:01 > 0:24:08..chocolate spread, and white bread, is apparently not very good for you!
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Sorry!
0:24:10 > 0:24:12Stop it!
0:24:17 > 0:24:21This really is a Feast with a capital F, isn't it?
0:24:21 > 0:24:26I mean, this has got to be the most wonderful piece of meat I've ever seen.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Fantastic. But what a luxury to have, you know, a real roast.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37- It looks like a joke piece, it's so perfect.- Look at those juices.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41It's the best cut - the rib - with that bone in.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43And it's just so succulent.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48When you were on EastEnders and you were playing such an major part that everybody knows,
0:24:48 > 0:24:53how do you kind of...? How do you sort of shift on to the next thing?
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Being in EastEnders was just - just brought me to a much bigger arena.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02It hasn't been too difficult. I've had a lot of offers in, which has been great, and very varied.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07And then, obviously, I got pregnant, in the middle of doing Dr Who!
0:25:07 > 0:25:09That sort of halted up a few projects!
0:25:09 > 0:25:13But then this great drama called Sorted turned up.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Oh, this is the - this is the sorting office, this is the postmen?
0:25:22 > 0:25:24She's a beauty, isn't she?
0:25:24 > 0:25:26I've always had a thing about older women.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Your fully qualified landscape gardener.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Mutual friend, said she was a stunner. Stunner, his exact words.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34She's all right, she's got a pretty face.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36'After Chrissie, it was a nice part to play.
0:25:36 > 0:25:43'She's Mancunian, she's a mum of two, and her toyboy lover is madly in love with her.'
0:25:43 > 0:25:46It was just happy, it was just a lovely part to play.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48They have sex the whole time.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50And you've got Yorkshire pud.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Oh, this is just my idea of heaven.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54This is my last one.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59- If you are going to do it- ... D'you want two Yorkshires? - Oh, go on, I'm pregnant.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02So my final supper, my final feast.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Unbelievable roast beef which just looks, just gorgeous.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Yorkshire puddings, the full thing here with all the veg.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11A bit of horseradish.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13- And for pudding? - Oh for pudding - yes!
0:26:13 > 0:26:19Like a chocolate sponge, and then you cut into it, and then hot chocolate oozes out.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21And it's my favourite thing ever.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24You'd have to die, really, at the end of this meal, wouldn't you?
0:26:24 > 0:26:26Tracy, you've done so much.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32I mean, from Shakespeare to Sorted, you've been through EastEnders and everything.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Is there anything you haven't... is there any regrets?
0:26:35 > 0:26:38No - not regrets so much about what I've done.
0:26:38 > 0:26:44It's a shame for me that my father didn't live long enough to see what the career that frightened him
0:26:44 > 0:26:48so much kind of developed into. You know, a successful career.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52And if you had - suppose if you had one wish, what would it be?
0:26:52 > 0:26:58I think if you can live your life and know that you've had the bottle to do the things that you wanted to do.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01I think a lot of people get frightened,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06and I think I've gone against fear to just do the thing that frightens you the most. Just do it.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Don't make a drama out of the small stuff.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Just get as much enjoyment out of life as you can. One of which is food!
0:27:12 > 0:27:16So, sod it! You know, if it's got a few extra calories in it, just eat it.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19- Now, you've got five guests. - Oh yeah!
0:27:19 > 0:27:24- Who would they be? - Well I think my first guest would be a Roman writer called Suetonius.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29He was like the sort of 3am girl of Roman history!
0:27:29 > 0:27:34He would go round, he picked up all the scandal, he was a real gossip-mongering journalist.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36- Dorothy Parker.- Oh, yeah.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Just because I think she was the wittiest woman alive.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44I think I would then have, either - I'd put the offer out to Mel Brooks first,
0:27:44 > 0:27:48and if he couldn't come, I'd have Larry David, who does Curb Your Enthusiasm!
0:27:48 > 0:27:53And then I think I'd invite Bette Davis, cos she's my icon - I love Bette Davis.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56And I think her and Dorothy would be interesting.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00- An explosion!- Well I was going to originally invite Bette Davis and Joan Crawford!
0:28:00 > 0:28:05I thought that would be very interesting. And I would like to have Nelson Mandela.
0:28:05 > 0:28:11For obvious reasons. I think the man's and inspiration, and he would temper all the egos at the table.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17Tracy-Ann Oberman, thank you very much for being a guest on Taste Of My Life.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20- Thank you very much.- Nigel, thank you very much, I've loved it.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22A pleasure! Thank you.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24- Cheers.- Mmm.- Mmm.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28- Nice apple juice.- Great apple juice.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2006
0:28:46 > 0:28:50E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk