We didn't want to hang about.I don't have a great desire to be a partnership in work. It is very hard for the children for both of us to be working at the same time, so it only happens if it fits into their lives. So often actors spend their lives miserable and worried about work, and I wasn't. It was a completely euphoric, hedonistic time.We were together for six years, off and on, before we married The relationship had its ups and downs.

I suppose after six years, we realised neither of us could get each other out of our systems and it was a bit foolish not to commit Both of us were very nervous about commitment But it was great. I would have been blind not to have fallen in love with him.It was the most extraordinary time. I can only describe it by saying that I had never felt so free I was 22, I had no commitments This was my second major job, and it was unbelievable. Also I loved acting, it wasn't difficult, there was no anxiety attached to it - well, there was the anxiety of making sure people understood Cordelia and that I didn't let down people who loved the book, but I loved doing it It was everything that acting should be. It didn't last for six weeks or two months, it lasted for two whole years It was the happiest time of my life.

I got home after the meeting and Jeremy [Irons] rang me up and said: "Listen, don't worry. If we feel that he's not what he's cracked up to be, in a couple of weeks we'll just get rid of him." But I knew the book was in perfect hands.That first meeting, I did look at him and I thought he was unbelievably good-looking He was breathtaking and articulate and clever. I was desperate for a cigarette and I couldn't even ask him for one - I couldn't get a word in edgeways.He was dazzling and brilliant, and fantastically articulate He was possessed by the book; he was passionate about it I was a great believer in it too I read it when I was about 14 and I was in love with it. After, we all went out to dinner and he was sitting at the other end of the table so again we didn't say anything. The following day we met officially to talk about what he was going to do with Brideshead and what he thought I was feeling about Cordelia and all that, and he took me into his office and talked for about an hour and a half, non-stop, incredibly fast. At the time I was a smoker, I'm afraid to say, and he had a packet of Marlboro on the table.

The series took two years to film; one of the stars of the production was the actress Phoebe Nicholls, who played Cordelia. Phoebe Nicholls was born in London in 1957; an undiagnosed dyslexic, she left school early, worked for a while, then went to drama school. From drama school, she went straight into a production of 'Whose Life Is It Anyway?' which ran for 600 performances in the West End, before going on to 'Brideshead'. Sturridge and Nicholls were married in 1985 and live in west London with their three children. Since their marriage they have collaborated on various projects, including the newly released film 'Fairy Tale: A True Story' PHOEBE NICHOLLS: The very first time I set eyes on Charles was at a party given in the basement at Granada Television. It was basically an opportunity for Charles to meet the whole cast of Brideshead.