THE DEVIL IN DERVLA

THE DEVIL IN DERVLA.

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Dervla Kirwan is just too good to be true. Not only is she blessed with the fragile beauty of a porcelain doll and a stunning figure, but she combines perfect serenity with an earthy sexiness.

Small wonder then that Stephen Tompkinson, who plays Father Peter Clifford, took one look at his Ballykissangel co-star and had some most unpriestly thoughts. The rest, of course, is history.

Casting his cassock aside he moved in on the divine Dervla and pretty soon the pair were singing from the same hymn sheet. They fell in love in the idyllic village of Avoca in County Wicklow, Ireland, where the series was shot and are still passionate about one another.

"We love being together," says Dervla. "Our idea of a perfect day is to spend it at home, cook a lovely meal and collapse in front of the telly. We're no different to any other couple."

Except, of course, they are. Both are successful actors and exist in the heady world of showbusiness, though a less luvvie person than Dervla you couldn't wish to meet. She is straight talking about her work, her man and the way she looks, which nowadays is a lot different.

Dervla has had her once long hair cropped into a short, chic Audrey Hepburn- style bob. And she loves her new look. "I still catch myself sideways in the mirror and jump, it takes me unawares," says 26-year-old Dervla. "But all of a sudden I'm not hiding any more. I can see my face for the first time in years.

"I decided to let it go last November. I was in Dylan's Salon in Dublin and I sat there watching locks of hair falling to the floor. It was an odd experience, because I've always worn it long."

At this point many women might have shrieked, burst into tears and demanded their money, not to mention their hair back. So how did she take it?

"I was thrilled," she replies without a trace of regret. "It was totally cathartic and I feel great, stronger. I was deliberately trying to get a different image. I didn't want to get stuck with this 'girlie' tag.

"Men do get funny about hair, but Stephen was great; in fact, he thought I could have gone even shorter."

At the mention of his name, Dervla's eyes light up. The couple, who share a flat in North London, have been together for three years, and met when he was cast as the English priest in Ballykissangel. At first they kept their affair under wraps but publicly revealed their love for one another on a trip to the Caribbean after the first series was finished. At the time Dervla confessed, "I think I have met Mr Right, we are very much in love."

Now she says, "It's like a search that's ended. It's wonderful relief having someone to go home and talk to, who knows you and understands you. But marriage, no way. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I've never been anywhere near walking down the aisle."

And she is philosophical about the fact that they are in the kind of business that could see them parted for months on end.

"It's something we'd learn to cope with," she says. "We'd try to be together, just as we do now. We're very good at making the time to be with one another. Next week we're off to New York for a holiday, and we've had a great time organising the trip.

"We're planning lots of meals out, trips to galleries and museums. We'll have a great laugh, that's the joy of it all, we make one another laugh so much."

It's a greatly deserved holiday for the pair of them who announced that they would be leaving Ballykissangel at the end of this, the third series, which began last Sunday on BBC1.

Since filming ended last August, Dervla has been busy. She has just finished work on Meteor, a dark comedy set in Ireland in which she stars with Alfred Molina and Brenda Fricker, and she has worked on two Radio 4 plays, The Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola and Divine Words, to be broadcast in the spring. Meanwhile, Stephen has spent the last four months on the London stage in Moliere's Tartuffe.

But Dervla has now taken a welcome break from work. "It's been great having some time to myself to get to the gym and do some proper exercise," she says. "I feel so sexy since I've worked out. It's done my self-esteem the world of good being in shape. I've discovered that if your body feels good you do too.

"On December 29th last year I took one look at myself and thought, 'That's it, Dervla, you need a good blast at the gym'. I've always liked to work out, but when you're working a 16-hour day it's not always possible to fit the gym in as well.

"I'm far from being naturally skinny. I really have to work at it. My normal weight is 9 stone 2 which is all right for someone of 5ft 4 but I've hit ten stone before now, which is too heavy for me.

"At the minute I'm eight and a half stone, and I feel great. It's all down to exercise. I work out five times a week for one hour and I've started riding horses again - something I haven't done since I was a kid.

"I don't diet. I watch what I eat to an extent, but I'm no saint, there's nothing I like better than a good meal and a glass of wine...or two.

"I have absolutely no belief in crash diets, they're a myth and don't work in the long term. I try to be good in the mornings and eat fruit, but when I'm working out I keep up my level of carbohydrates with bagels. And I love chocolate, about twice a week I'll succumb to a KitKat. Correction, I will voraciously attack a KitKat.

"I'm not into this veggie thing, but I won't eat red meat and I love chicken. Mind you, I don't go along wholeheartedly with the idea that every woman should be dead slim, and it annoys me when women are attacked just because they've put on a few pounds.

"Look at the fuss over Kate Winslet. She put on a tiny bit of weight, looks beautiful, is up for Oscars, but still people make a fuss. It's wrong. Yet here I am conforming and losing weight, too. You can't win."

Not one who's afraid to speak her mind, Dervla is known to be particularly single-minded about her life and her career, taking what may have seemed unnecessary risks.

But each paid off and, at just 24, she was voted Ireland's

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