Morning:
8°c
Lord Freddie's fiancée to rule American TV before royal wedding
Sri Carmichael3 Apr 2009
LONDON actress Sophie Winkleman is set to become a star of American TV only months before her royal wedding.
The 28-year-old, who is to marry Lord Freddie Windsor in September, has beaten several well-known American stars to the lead role in new comedy series 100 Questions For Charlotte Payne.
Insiders say the NBC show, which follows Charlotte's search for "Mr Right" in New York City, is a cross between Sex And The City and Friends. The team behind it made Frasier and Friends.
Winkleman, who starred in British TV satire The Palace, is flying out to Hollywood this week to prepare for filming two trial episodes on 21 and 24 April in front of a live audience.
A friend said she was "incredibly excited" about the opportunity to "break" America on such a potentially high-profile show.
The friend added: "She found the audition process pretty frightening - you have to act in front of a huge audience and network executives - but she pulled it off.
"It's just the distraction and career boost she needs after all the fuss over how much she was wearing in her latest film."
The future daughter-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent faced criticism when she appeared topless in a film by Oscar-nominated director Mike Figgis.
In Love Live Long, which was shown at the London Film Festival last October, Winkleman plays a self-destructive young woman who has a fling with a married rally driver.
The British Film Institute said the film, based on the Gumball 3000 Rally, has a "raw intimacy that is sometimes unsettling to watch".
Courtiers fear the film will be released in the autumn to coincide with the royal wedding but a general release date is yet to be set and producer Patrick Fischer has said the film will not come out in Britain if Winkleman objects.
The plot of the new US series sees her character visiting a dating service where she has to answer 100 questions to find her soulmate.
At the start of each episode she answers one more question - often with a fib - and the storyline follows on from there. The comedy revolves around Charlotte's friends, including one played by Joy Suprano of Law And Order.
Winkleman, the half-sister of TV presenter Claudia, was born in Primrose Hill and lives in Chelsea.
She had a quietly successful career until her latest break. She starred in Footlights productions at Cambridge University before working for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
This led to a role as Big Suze in Channel4 sitcom Peep Show, before she started being offered parts in prime-time series. She has a key role in the BBC's third series of drama Robin Hood.
