Ugly Betty Extras star Ashley Jensen on her new US sitcom

Ashley Jensen, star of Extras and Ugly Betty, talks about her role in Accidentally on Purpose, a new US comedy about motherhood (E4, Thursday, June 17)...

Accidentally on Purpose is a different style of comedy to what we’ve seen you in before – what grabbed you about it?
"I was really up for doing a traditional American sitcom - filmed with four cameras in front of a live studio audience. You have the best of both worlds, the energy of having an audience and the luxury of knowing if it doesn’t go well you can go back and do it again."

You are Olivia, the party girl best friend of Jenna Elfman’s character – but you were pregnant in real life. How did you manage with your ever expanding baby bump?
"We used every trick in the book - behind dry cleaning, behind desks, behind cake stands, behind fruit platters, behind giant handbags. I gave birth a week after I finished work so I was pretty big."

And Jenna was pregnant too – you must have talked babies all the time?
"We sat about talking about how tired we were and our feet. At one point she hadn’t told people she was pregnant and she was having morning sickness and she’d say, ‘I need to get a wee cracker’, so I’d pretend I wanted one."

Your baby Frankie is six months – how’s motherhood?
"It takes time to get into your groove and you find there are bits of your body that don’t work as well as they used to. I went back to work after three weeks – I wanted to and I felt ready. But I had the luxurious position of being able to bring Frankie to set with me. So I’d do a scene then go back to my room to feed him."

Does Los Angeles feel like home now?
"I think home is where your bits and pieces and the dog are. We are a bit like gypsies so we moved around quite a lot when we were in London. This is one of the longest times we have stayed in one place."

Have you seen Ricky Gervais recently?
"I saw him doing stand up the other night. He’s huge over here – well not huge he’s lost so much weight he’s quite slim. He really deserves it because he’s working non-stop."

Any plans to come back to Britain then?
"We talk about coming back to Britain on a weekly basis. People think when you leave to go to America you are abandoning Britain, but I’m still very open to working there. I’m about to film a pilot for the BBC called the Accidental Farmer - I only do things with accident in the title now! It’s set in Yorkshire and is about a city girl moving to the country."

And you are returning to Ugly Betty as Christina for the final episode...
"When I heard it was finishing I called America Ferrera and said, ‘I think Christina should come back for an episode’, and she said ‘So do I’. She got in touch with the writers and they were already on it. The final episode had a storyline that was me Betty, Hilda and Amanda. We all said, ‘Why on earth didn’t they put the four of us together before?’ It was such good fun."