'I'm obsessed with watching childbirth on TV': Luckily it hasn't put off pregnant Emmerdale actress Natalie Anderson

'I'm obsessed with watching childbirth on TV': Luckily it hasn't put off pregnant Emmerdale actress Natalie Anderson

For a woman with her first child on the way, Emmerdale star Natalie Anderson looks remarkably relaxed.

And if expecting a baby isn’t stressful enough, her dramatic exit storyline from the soap, as she prepares to take maternity leave, has involved filming for 12 hours a day.

Yet, far from looking exhausted, the bubbly actress is the picture of good health.

The reason for her calm state is not down to massage or reflexology, or even lots of rest and sleep.

What has helped stop Natalie working herself into a panic about what’s to come is hours sitting in front of the box glued to the reality show One Born Every Minute.

Watching women give birth isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the actress, who plays Emmerdale’s feisty Alicia Gallagher, says she just can’t get enough.

“I’m obsessed with it, because I want to prepare myself,” she says. “It does scare me a bit, but it doesn’t put me off childbirth.

"If anything, it ’s done me the world of good and made me more empowered.

“I’m actually really looking forward to having the baby now. It’s helped. I now think, ‘It’s going to be all right. You’re going to scream, but you’ll get through it’.”

The emotionally charged Channel 4 series One Born Every Minute, set in a maternity ward, follows women from their arrival at the hospital, through to labour and the eventual birth of their babies.

“I like it because I can see how other women deal with it and the different kinds of births. It removes the fear of the unknown,” Natalie, 30, explains.

“I watch all the reruns as well. My husband laughs. At night if I’m getting a bit anxious he’ll say, ‘Go and have a bath… and get your iPad and watch One Born Every Minute and you’ll be fine’.”

Natalie, who lives in Leeds with her husband, financial specialist James Shepherd, is expecting the couple’s first baby â€" a boy â€" in August.

She will be written out of Emmerdale for up to a year and viewers will see her leave the ITV1 soap in cliffhanger fashion next month with Alicia having lost her temper and punching Val Pollard on the nose. Taken away by the police, it soon emerges that she could face a jail sentence as she has a previous conviction for assaulting one of her mum’s carers.

Feisty: Throwing a punch in Emmerdale

At nearly seven months pregnant, Natalie was, perhaps not surprisingly, anxious about filming such a violent scene. “I did worry about it and I had to be careful how I twisted my body,” she says.

“I was concerned that I might fall into something. But there was a stunt person on hand who knew everything. He said I’d be fine, but explained that I needed to twist from my shoulders, not my waist, to swing the punch. It all had to be the top of my body.”

Naturally slim, Natalie has not gained an excessive amount of weight during her pregnancy, but admits she is relishing her changing shape.

“I really love it,” she smiles. “I think I look nice. I went on holiday with James recently and wore a bikini â€" I was really proud of myself â€" and I was asking him to take pictures of me and the bump all the time. I’ve never been like that before â€" I’ve never particularly wanted my picture taken.

“I’ve not put on a lot of weight. Mainly j ust the bump and my boobs, and I’ve put on a bit around my hips. But I like it. I have really embraced being pregnant. It’s given me a different perspective and given me such a sense of empowerment and strength that my body is making another human being. It makes me appreciate my body more.

“And my husband always tells me that I could still be really sexy even if I was a lot heavier, because it’s all about muscle tone. Bless him, he’s really nice. He tells me I look gorgeous and that he’s proud of me.”

Normally a healthy eater â€" her husband James cooks all their meals from scratch â€" Natalie has not changed her diet since becoming pregnant, but admits she has developed a craving for sweet food.

“I’ve always eaten biscuits â€" I’m known for enjoying a cup of tea and a biscuit â€" but I’m eating packets now,” she laughs. “Even without the cup of tea to go with them.

“But I’m conscious of the fact that it can’t be good for the baby â€" I might end up with a really hyperactive child.”

Natalie says turning 30 made her realise she was ready to have children.

“I’m really happy and settled at work and I’d always had the age of 30 in my head as the age to start a family. James and I have been married for four years and it felt like a natural time for us.”

She is not yet sure exactly how much maternity leave she will take.

Emmerdale bosses have written her out for a year, but she thinks she may return early as James works from home and plans to juggle work with looking after their baby.

“The fact that my baby will be at home with his daddy makes me feel so much more settled,” Natalie beams.

“James has reached a stage in his career that he’s happy with and doesn’t feel the need to aim any higher at this point, so he can help support me with the things I want to do with my career.”

The actress, who found fame during three years playing nurse Stella Davenport in the ITV1 hospital series The Royal, grew up in Bradford.

She made her acting debut when she was 14 in the BBC1 children’s series The Biz and then became a cheerleader for the local Bradford Bulls rugby league team.

She left school in 2000 to study for a degree at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, ­co-founded by Sir Paul McCartney.

Settled: Natalie with husband James

Two years later, she entered the first series of Pop Idol, on which the judges included Simon Cowell and Pete Waterman.

She made the last 50, but in her audition week Will Young was put through instead.

“I sometimes wonder what would have been happened if I’d been picked, but I genuinely think the best thing that happened for me was not getting through,” she says.

“Will Young was 26 at the time and I was only 19. I didn’t have a lot of experience and I think I could easily have crashed and burned if I’d had instant fame.

"Instead, I’ve built up a career from scratch with no help â€" the old-school way â€" by working and learning and auditioning and I think that’s been better for me.”

Not that Natalie has turned her back on music. She released her first album Return To Me four years ago and says that despite being pregnant, a second album could follow later this year.

But she no longer dreams of being a pop star the way she used to.

“I like making music for me and for the sheer love of the music,” she explains.

“I’m 30, I’m married, I’ve got a baby coming and I’ve got a fantastic job in the public eye â€" I’m really happy with where my life is right now.”

As she prepares to head off on maternity leave viewers will be left on the edge of their seats as Alicia grows closer still to best friend and housemate David and fights to hang on to her son ahead of her court case.

There’s also an engagement, her sentencing and plenty of drama…

“We had a night shoot recently and I had a really important scene where I’m crying and screaming my head off, and I was so tired that the tears were coming for real,” Natalie admits.

“It was full-on tears and everyone was asking if I was alright. I said, ‘Yes, keep going. I’ve got proper pregnant lady crying going on here â€" don’t anyone interrupt me’.”

EMMERDALE IS ON ITV1 ON MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AT 7PM AND THURSDAY AT 7PM AND 8PM.