Suranne Jones on XY

She's played a bisexual sex therapist and a private eye, but Suranne Jones is best known for her role as mouthy Coronation Street minx Karen McDonald. We spoke to the Mancunian actress who is behind the National Lottery campaign to celebrate all things British.

What makes you most proud of being British?
I love a good roast dinner and I holiday in the UK, I’m a big fan of St. Ives. And I’ve got a good sense of humour and that’s what I look for in a man.

What is the thing you least enjoy about Britain?
The whole drinking culture, going abroad and people wearing bad shorts. Yeah, I’d say men in bad shorts and their reputation abroad. And also I love the Lake District and stuff but the weather can get you down in the UK.

Do you envisage a return to Corrie?
I have been asked but not for a good while I would imagine. Maybe.

How would you like to return?
Kym Marsh has the same haircut as me at the moment. So maybe with Karen and Michelle there could be quite a cat fight there. My local pub is actually the corrie local and I’ve got cobbles outside my house. So I didn’t move that far, but I do talk to the producers there as well as the actors and the writers.

In Strictly Confidential you played a bi-sexual sex therapist. What did that role teach you?
You learn different kinds of things doing any kind of role. Vincent taught me different things about private investigators. In Dead Clever I ended up using an uzi gun. What can I say? I can use an uzi gun so I’m a force to be reckoned with. I trained for that and I’m good with a semi-automatic hand gun. I killed my husband in that role.

Best not to get you upset then. When’s the last time you laid into someone?
When my tiling in my bathroom didn’t go according to plan. That’s as far as I’ve gone really.

When asked which aspects of the UK’s ‘society’ makes it so great, 39 per cent of respondents said that it was our famous “sense of humour”, 37 per cent said the right to “freedom of speech”. Despite much written to the contrary, for almost one in five, “tolerance and manners” are something to be proud of. More than half of us (51%) put a traditional roast top of their grub list, 42% have a taste for fish’n’chips and 36% favoured a full English breakfast. The research was carried out by the National Lottery. For more information visit www.loveuk.org