© As reported in The Scottish Daily Record on 13th March 2004.

I'LL MAKE IT GLAM-BOGLE Mar 13 2004
By Paul English

SEXY Scots actress Simone Lahbib wants to bring some glamour to the sleepy Scottish Highlands and she'll not let the midges stop her.

The London-based actress heads north this week to join the cast of Monarch Of The Glen, which begins filming its sixth series in Newtonmore. And she's determined to inject some of the glitz of her city-girl lifestyle into the quiet hills and glens where she will be working.

'I hear the midges are really fierce on the set,' says Simone, who played bisexual governor Helen Stewart in hit ITV prison drama Bad Girls.
'I'm filming up there for the next six months, and I'm told there are at least three weeks when it's just hell. The cast have to go about wearing those head-nets that bee-keepers wear.
'But I'm going to have to come up with some way to glamorise that outfit. I think it's time for a bit of bling in the Highlands.'

Simone plays the role of fiesty newcomer Isobel Anderson, who turns her back on her career in the city to run her late grandmother's farm.
Her arrival will send sparks flying in the glen, not least with the new laird Paul (Lloyd Owen).

'She's proud, stubborn, combative, but definitely has chinks in her emotional armour which she uses to hide her vulnerability,' says Simone, 38.
'Isobel is a feisty, determined young woman who isn't afraid of rolling up her designer sleeves and setting in motion her plans to get her grandmother's farm upand running again.

'But it's only a matter of time before her hot-headedness gets her into trouble with Paul.That's when the sparks really start to fly.'
The show could boost Simone's global profile, as audiences in China, America and Australia have been seduced by the tranquil beauty and quaint settings of Scotland.

'It's so popular in so many countries. I think the scenery has captivated audiences, but the storylines are really entertaining, too.'
Like her new character, Simone is turning her back on London to spend six months in Speyside. And it means she'll see even less of her husband, Saving Private Ryan star Raffaello Degruttola.

An Anglo-Italian, he was brought up in America and is currently working in LA, promoting and filming three movies House of Nine with Dennis Hopper, Citizen Verdict with Jerry Springer and psychological thriller Dot.Kill.

'He's been in LA for a month already, and he might have to stay a wee while longer,' moans Simone. 'I really miss him, but I'm glad that his career's going so well.
'I went out to visit him three weeks ago, but I couldn't believe how much of a meat market the place is especially with all these actors scrambling around for auditions during pilot season.

'It's definitely not for me.Well, not at the moment anyway.'

THE couple wed in May last year in a romantic ceremony in the shadow of Stirling Castle. More than 150 guests, including The Bill star George Rossi, watched them exchange their vows in the service at the picturesque St Mary's Church, before enjoying a lavish champagne reception at the nearby Stirling Highland Hotel.

At the time, Simone said she was nervous, but described her wedding as 'the happiest day of my life' while Raffaello said he was 'the luckiest man alive' to be tying the knot with the lovely star.

The couple met when Simone was in the ITV show Thief Takers in 1997 and they managed to keep their relationship quiet for years until news of their wedding finally emerged last year.

Three weeks into their relationship, Raffaello had told the actress: 'I know you are the woman I am going to marry.'
They got engaged, but only after he had asked her father for his blessing.

Simone joked at the time of her wedding: 'It was really out of the blue and he did the proper thing and asked my dad's permission for my hand in marriage.'

Meanwhile, Simone's back on ITV later this month, playing a tough as nails copper in two-part action thriller, Fallen.
She was last seen co-starring with ex-EastEnder Martin Kemp in the gangland thriller Family.

The show received mixed reviews and was the victim of scheduling changes.
Simone played Kemp's man-hungry sister in the series about the feuding Cutler clan who ruled gangland London.

'The scheduling got changed and it had two weeks off in the middle of the run, then came back on later at night. So in the end it lost momentum.

'Lots of people complained that they had been enjoying it, and were actually sitting down to watch it, when they discovered that it wasn't on. But things get swapped around, and it's just a pity that it ended up like that. I thought it was a great show and the storylines for the next series had been discussed and worked out.

'My character was looking forward to taking over the reigns of the business. But it's very disappointing.

'It's d one and dusted now, but people were really disappointed.
'Apparently, ITV were inundated with complaints, but that's how it goes sometimes.'DESPITE failing to land a part as one of The Fat Slags in the forthcoming film version of the Viz cartoon characters, Simone's content to stay in TV for now.

'I obviously wasn't fat enough,' she laughs. 'I hear Naomi Campbell's involved, but strangely enough, I can't really see her as a Fat Slag somehow.

'Geri Halliwell's been linked to it, too. And I see she's been putting on a bit of extra weight recently.

'But I'm not desperate to break into films. I'm really happy with the way my career's going. And I can't wait to come back to Scotland to work.

'This is the first time I've been back home to work since Young Person's Guide To Becoming ARock Star.

'It will only be a two-hour drive from my family in Stirling. So - no wonder I just can't wait to come home.'

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