Playing bumbling PA Natalie in the 2003 feelgood festive favourite earned the ex-EastEnders actress Empire and MTV Movie awards.

But it could have been a very different story as Martine had officially quit showbiz that year and relocated to the remote Spanish mountains to retrain as a photographer.

Luckily the film’s director, Richard Curtis, managed to track her down, having written the part in Love Actually specially for her.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday, Martine, 49, told how she was tempted back into the spotlight as she had always dreamed of working with Hugh, who played Prime Minister David in flick.

She said: “I’d seen Four Weddings And A Funeral as a little girl, and I just fell in love with Hugh Grant. I dreamed that one day I’d become his leading lady in a British film.

“But when I did EastEnders, I just thought, ‘It’s not going to happen for me now because not many people who do soaps go into film, because they have a less credible reputation than film’. That is ironic as soap was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Martine, who has also had a successful stage career, added: “I did the My Fair Lady tour and there had been a lot of illness with the cast. At the time I felt like people wanted to bring the golden girl down.

‘Chalk and cheese’

“I’d broken up with my boyfriend and just felt a bit lost, and like I’d fallen out of love with the industry. I thought, ‘I just don’t want to do it any more, I’m too sensitive for it’.

“I called my agent at the time and told him, ‘I’m done’. He thought I was crazy, but I just wanted to go travelling. So I went to stay with two friends who live in the mountains in Spain and that was it.

“I was toying with the idea of doing photography. Then, about three weeks into my trip, the phone rang and it was my old agent.

“He said, ‘Martine, I know you told me never to call you ever again, and you hate this business, but I have got to tell you this. Richard Curtis has been in touch and he wants you to read for a part opposite Hugh Grant’. And the rest is history.

“When I get cynical, it reminds me that dreams do come true, it’s beautiful.”

Despite her love for the ensemble movie, Martine has not let her ten-year-old son Rafferty watch it yet.

She said: “It comes on every Christmas Day and we usually watch it, but I’ve not let Rafferty watch it yet as I swear like a trouper and there is a sex scene in it.

“But a couple of his mates who have older siblings have told him that I’m in a big Christmas movie.

“He’ll love it when he is a little bit older. I usually just focus on how animated my face is in the movie.”

Screenwriter Richard has admitted he regrets putting jokes about Natalie’s weight in the film, saying those jibes “are no longer funny”.

When I get cynical, it reminds me that dreams do come true, it’s beautiful

Martine McCutcheon

The script sees other characters calling her “chubby” and “plumpy”.

However, Martine reckons the remarks were typical of the early Noughties era in which the movie was made. She said: “I spoke to Richard about it during filming and it wasn’t meant to be a political statement.

“It was about real perceptions of people at that time. The whole point was that Hugh’s character falls in love with Natalie because she’s beautiful but doesn’t know it. She wasn’t guarded and didn’t have a filter. The fact that she spoke about her insecurities made her more loveable.

“It made it juicy for me. It was real at the time.”

Martine is pleased she kept in touch with Hugh, having bonded over the film.

She said: “I’m like one of the lads. I’ve always hung out with male crew and technicians and he didn’t know what to make of me at first.

“We were like chalk and cheese. Our class was completely different, and that was a big deal back then.

“But we are friends. He always invites me to the party he throws yearly. It would be a shame to have been in a movie like that and not kept in touch.”

Having taken a break from acting to focus on parenthood, Martine — who split from her husband Jack McManus in 2024 — is considering a return next year.

She said: “I’d love to do a period drama. I’ve never done that before. I don’t even have an acting agent any more, I didn’t have time for it. Rafferty is my only child and with filming, it’s all or nothing.

“You can be there for 17 hours, you miss putting the kids to bed. Not long after I’d had Rafferty, I did a film called The Bromley Boys with Alan Davies and I missed him so badly.

“I loved doing the film, but I decided to park acting for a bit as I’ll never get these years back with Rafferty.

‘The best time’

“I went to see his Christmas play and I wouldn’t miss that for the world. It would be nice to have some acting projects on the go, though.”

Soap fans will remember Martine from her breakthrough role in BBC One’s EastEnders, where she played Tiffany Mitchell from 1995 to 1999, before her character was killed in a car accident.

Martine revealed she has been invited back to Albert Square many times over the years, but would only do it if the storyline was right. It is, after all, not unknown for soap stars to return from the dead.

Martine admitted: “I don’t watch EastEnders any more, it just doesn’t feel the same. Tiffany was so loved that I owe it to the character to return in the right way, if she did come back. I had the best time and she was such a firecracker to play.”

Martine was born in Hackney, East London, when her mother Jenny Tomlin, was 19.

Her father, Thomas Hemmings, was so violent towards her mum that, aged nine, she went to court and appeared as the main witness to ensure an injunction would keep him away.

“When I went to Italia Conti, I saw a whole other walk of life. I got a scholarship to go, otherwise I would never have been there. And the other children that were paying, they were wealthy.

Martine McCutcheon

By 12, Martine — who took her stepfather’s surname — was appearing in TV commercials.

She also had bit parts on the West End to pay for fees at the Italia Conti stage school. At 15, she was touring Europe supporting East 17 with all-girl band Milan.

As well as launching a meditation business, Martine has been working as a brand ambassador for medicated shampoo Polytar.

She swears by the brand’s Polytar Scalp Shampoo for helping ease her dry, sensitive scalp.

She said: “I’ve used it since I was child. I love it.”

Martine learned her work ethic at a young age.

She said: “We were poor growing up, but you don’t miss what you don’t have.

“When I went to Italia Conti, I saw a whole other walk of life. I got a scholarship to go, otherwise I would never have been there. And the other children that were paying, they were wealthy.

“One of my friends, Alison, her dad dropped her off in a Rolls-Royce, and when they drove me home one day, I thought, ‘Oh no’. I felt guilty because I felt so embarrassed. But there’s an element of safety that comes with money and choice and freedom. That’s why I work so hard.”

She explained: “I never, ever expected to be rescued or to be saved or to be looked after. I could go and do a job and make my own money and I wanted to do that more.

“I always wanted to have that independence.”

But she admitted with a laugh: “It must be lovely to be looked after. I’ve always been in relationships where I have needed to work, too.”