AS fiery talent show judge Karina Faith in the TV series Rock Rivals, Michelle Collins is not a woman to cross. When her husband and fellow judge, Mal, was caught being unfaithful to her, an irate Karina drove his beloved Ferrari into his swimming pool! Michelle says that she has never gone as far as doing such a thing in real life — but she did once throw a Christmas pudding at a boyfriend.

“I was 19 or 20 at the time and I can’t remember why I did it now, other than that he annoyed me,” she recalls. “I do remember that it was a Harrods Christmas pudding though so it was good quality!”

It was around this time that Michelle took part in a talent competition herself. “I was in a band called Mari Wilson and the Wilsations when I was 19 and we spent 18 months touring the country,” says Michelle, who turns 45 next month. “We went on a talent show, just like Rock Rivals, called The David Essex Showcase which focused on British talent in the ’80s. We got through to the finals but sadly didn’t win.” However, the group had a Top 10 hit with Just What I Always Wanted, before splitting up in 1982.

“I used to really like David Essex but he didn’t say particularly nice things about me when I was on his show and he shattered my dreams, but I met him again some years later and he was very pleasant. I remember being very jealous, though, because he was going out with a girl from the dance troupe Hot Gossip!”

Michelle’s daughter, Maia, 11, is showing signs of following in Mum’s footsteps, but Michelle admits that she would be wary of her entering a real TV talent show, such as The X Factor.

“The judges are very straight-talking and they can be quite hurtful,” she says. “Talent shows do open doors for people but the downside is that they can be very cruel and no one likes to be rejected — especially in such a public way. But I think Maia is more into acting than singing. She goes to a drama group and also does dancing and I think she’s going to be much better than me. She’s very funny and is much posher than I am, so will probably do a lot of costume dramas, wearing bonnets — something I’m never asked to do! I would like her to go to university first, though, and experience a bit of the world.”

It was tough for Michelle, being separated from Maia during the five months of filming Rock Rivals in Dublin. 

“I missed her so much and I flew home every weekend to see her. It was tiring but our time together is precious. And Maia came out to Ireland with my father a few times to visit me too, which was lovely.” 

Michelle, who lives in north London, has been a single mum to Maia since splitting with motorbike dealer Fabrizio Tassalini in 1998, after a 16-month relationship. There have been other relationships since but none have lasted very long. Now there is a new man in her life but she declines to talk about him.

“It can be difficult being a single mum and still having a career but many women have it worse than me,” she says. “There are a lot of women who have to do three or four jobs to try and scrape some money together and some of them are single mums too. I’m so lucky. I’ve always had work and it’s been well paid. I’ve been able to afford a nanny and I’ve also been able to take Maia to work with me on many occasions. Every parent has a special relationship with their child but I think you are much closer if you are a single mum to an only child because you do so much together.”

Michelle’s own mum has been an inspiration to her. She brought up Michelle and her elder sister Vicky single-handedly. “Looking back now, it must have been tough for Mum but I have very happy childhood memories and that’s a credit to her,” she says.

Michelle has deliberately cut back on her workload in recent years in order to spend more quality time with Maia but she is delighted to be back in a ‘mainstream’ drama once more.

“I’ve not been in a big, prime time drama like Rock Rivals for quite a while,” says Michelle, who found fame playing Cindy Beale in EastEnders for nine years. “I’ve done a lot of bits and pieces. I was in an episode of Doctor Who, I did a Bollywood film and I was in the West End musical Daddy Cool, based on the music of Boney M. I suppose the last major thing I did on TV was Two Thousand Acres Of Sky back in 2003, playing a single mum who escapes her inner city lifestyle with her two children to a small Scottish village.” 

Last year there was speculation that Michelle was returning to EastEnders when her former screen husband, Ian Beale, was convinced that his dead wife had returned to stalk him!

“That was weird!” she laughs. “Nobody on the show told me anything about it and I wondered what was going on. Even my own sister thought I was sworn to secrecy and that I was returning. When you have played a very strong character like that in a soap, it is very hard to shake off. But I’m hoping that Karina will become as big a character. She’s a lot more glamorous. The producers wanted to make her look sophisticated whilst still trying to keep elements of ‘rock chick’ about her, because she’s a music producer and manager. So I got to wear fitted suits and dresses, expensive jewellery and lots of fake tan and big hair! It was great fun playing a high maintenance woman but the costume girls would go mad at me because I’d always forget about my fake tan and get it all over these fabulous clothes. I’d love to do a second series, though.

“Doing Rock Rivals has really got me in the mood to do another musical again. I saw Hairspray on stage recently and I would love a part in something like that. But as long as I keep on working, diversify in what I’m doing, and continue to enjoy it then I think I am a lucky actress. I just think in this business you have to be very true to yourself and know your capabilities. I hope to still be acting in 20 years’ time.

“As for returning to soaps — never say never. I don’t think you can afford to be snobbish and stuck up in this business. When I was in EastEnders there were people who had said, ‘Oh God, I would never do soaps’, and now some of those people are in them!”