Ingrid Tarrant smiling again - with the help of her handsome young friend

With a smile a mile-wide, the estranged wife of Chris Tarrant, 52, was clearly enjoying her lunch date with actor Scott Maslen, 36, in London's St Johns Wood.

The two had earlier taken a stroll in a park where Ingrid photographed her companion - star of TV's The Bill - at one point even standing atop a bench to achieve the best angle.

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Ingrid Tarrant, 52, is clearly enjoying her lunch date with 36-year-old actor Scott Maslen

Ingrid hasn't had much to smile about recently: She split acrimoniously from husband Chris last September

Her carefree demeanour was a world away from the recriminatory interview she recently gave to a downmarket tabloid where she blasted her former husband for being violent, impotent and reeking of fish during their 15-year marriage.

The couple separated last September after Ingrid discovered Tarrant's seven-year affair with teacher Fiona McKechnie.

She claimed the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Tarrant was "clumsy and naive in bed" and had relied on Viagra for four years.

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After a stroll in the park, Ingrid took some snaps of The Bill star

She went into excruciating detail about Tarrant's sexual problems, revealing that he had suffered a groin injury some years before while "larking around" with their son Toby.

Angry about accusations in the media she had imposed a seven-year sex ban during their union, Ingrid said it was Chris who had gone off sex. adding: "My husband has always had a kind of mythical belief in his own sexuality.

"But the truth is that I didn't go off sex. He did."

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After such an enjoyable lunch date, the friends say goodbye with a hug

Ingrid went on to claim that Tarrant - a devoted angler - had problems with personal hygiene and often went to bed stinking of carp, bream and pike, his hands still covered in dried fish blood.

We imagine that won't be a problem she encounters with her new friend who is about to join the cast of TV's Eastenders as romeo ex-policeman Jack Branning.

He's clearly a hit off screen as well as on.

Ingrid and Chris Tarrant in happier times before their bitter divorce