Echo Beach - Martine McCutcheon´s Hollywood hate

22 January 2008 - Martine McCutcheon thinks Los Angeles is "brutal".

The former 'EastEnders' actress moved to the Hollywood after starring in hugely successful romantic comedy 'Love Actually', but had her dreams shattered and was glad to come home.

Martine told Britain's Closer magazine: "Los Angeles is just brutal. Even Cameron Diaz is old hat not. Once you do three movies, you're over. I can see why people like Kate Winslet have said they like spending time in the UK- Los Angeles just isn't the real world.

"But even though moving there wasn't a godsend for my career, I got the chance to take stock - I grew up a lot in that year."

The 31-year-old actress-and-singer - who is now starring alongside Jason Donovan in ITV's "soap-within-a-soap" 'Echo Beach' and 'Moving Wallpaper' - also revealed while she was keen to be involved in such a unique project, the added work was sometimes frustrating.

She said: "Because I star as myself in 'Moving Wallpaper' and as the housewife Susan Penwarden in 'Echo Beach' it's a lot more work.

"Just as you think, 'Oh brilliant, I've got the day off', the 'Moving Wallpaper' producer would say, 'Oh, by the way, we need you in the back of shot looking at your fan mail.' "

(C) BANG Media International