TREVOR EVE: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A VERY PRIVATE EYE

As gumshoe Eddie Shoestring he was the loner we longed to give a good home to... Chance would be a fine thing. For Trevor Eve, star of stage and screen, already has not only a comfortable home but a lovely wife and a bonny new baby into the bargain - as Ingrid Millar discovered when she dropped in on the Eves for a rare interview.

Trevor and Sharon. You almost expect to see their names plastered across the windscreen of the battered old VW that sits outside their terraced home by the Thames. But a matter of taste apart, this pair prefer to keep a low profile. They are not your average young married couple. He almost became an architect. When he turned his attentions from bricks to building a career as an actor, he was on to a winner. Picking up RADA's coveted Gold Medal along the way, he laid the foundations for a future that was to take him in a few years straight to the top, with the Actor Of The Year Award. Not bad going for a nobody from a Midlands family with no showbiz background. He is Trevor Eve, She, too, went to RADA, turning her back on a university place to do so. Before long, her face and talents graced the small screen in series like the Shabby Tiger and The Enigma Files. She too, had the thrill of seeing her name up in West End lights, in Flumena, where she met for the first time the rising star Trevor Eve. She fell for him, lived with him, married him and earlier this year, gave birth to their beautiful baby daughter, Alice. she is Sharon Maughan.

Trevor and Sharon, it seems, have got it made. As golden couples go, this one positively glitters. And that's why it's so refreshing to breathe in the absolutely normal atmosphere around them. There's no ritzy lifestyle for this pair, who quite positively shrug off superfluous fame and acclaim. Trevor especially, with fame at his fingertips at the still tender age of 28, did not find it easy to handle. "I have a short fuse," he warned me the first time we met. "Sometimes I need to blow up." There are rumors that he is particularly ill at ease with the press. On one notable occasion, when asked by an ill-informed journalist how it felt to be Mr. Pamela Stephenson, he swiftly turned on his heel and stomped off. "Reporters should do their homework," said an adamant Eve, "otherwise it's a waste of everyone's time." A cal, rather than pompous. But misunderstood, misquoted - "I don't mistrust the press, it's simply that when anything I've said appears in black and white, it doesn't seem to reflect my moods accurately" - he is not one to give interviews at the drop of a hat. This (hot scoop for Woman's World) is the first ever confrontation between an intrepid reporter and the Eves en famille. "We've always had separate careers, "Sharon had revealed to me earlier on the telephone, "and up until now we've felt that an interview together might not be handled sympathetically to both of us." So why change now? Because Trevor, having just completed his year-long run in the West End was "thinking over a few new offers", and Sharon was raring to restart her acting career after a year off to have Alice. New territory all round, time for fresh tactics. But some things never change. "I'll kick your tape recorder when it's time for you to go," warns Trevor, two minutes after welcoming me into the bright, open-plan living room. Then he breaks into a big lazy grin. "I only give interviews," he confesses, "because I love reading them myself. It's the sole reason I buy magazines, to discover the in-depth facts on some elusive star." That said, he doesn't see himself as a star. "I'm not in this business to be a sex symbol r a celebrity." And he has always expressed a disdain for the trappings of fame. "Okay, so acting is a public profession, but I don't ever want to be public property."

The experience of being stopped by fans in the street, pressured by autograph hunters, he tolerates, but does not progress to love. "It came as quite a surprise to me, but when Shoestring made me a public face I discovered I was basically a private person underneath." Sharon, too - tall, slender, stunning in a 12-inch ra-ra skirt that should never fit so snugly around the hips of any woman who only recently gave birth to an 8lb baby - cherishes the privacy they strive to preserve. Surprisingly, for one with her model-girl good looks. she is rarely recognized. When it does happen, she squirms. "It's inevitably first thing in the morning on a crowded train, when I'm wearing no make-up and I'm all bleary-eyed," she smiles. Even when she laughs, her eyes stay saucer-sized. She really is very attractive. Trevor thinks so, too. "When I first saw her, I thought she was incredibly beautiful. I still do. But when it was her laugh that made her special. A real down-to-earth, un-self-conscious belly-laugh from such an attractive woman - it had to be a good sign. Then I discovered she was from Liverpool, and I love the Liverpudlian sense of humor."

Shared laughter is a common sound in this house. Sharon, sharp, sparkling, ever-alert, is the perfect foil for Trevor's wry wit. Fond of self-parody, given to making dry observations about others, his sense of humor is very Eddie Shoestring. Or rather, Eddie's belonged to Trevor. "While we were making the series, we were always joking on set. If the director thought the jokes were any good, they stayed in. A lot of Eddie's funny lines were mine." Nonetheless, it's a comparison he'd rather you didn't make. Eddie's dead, as the song says. Did his bit and died a natural death. "The series were great fun to do, and right at the time, but I find the routine of solving a crime a week just a bit boring now." Still he hasn't eliminated the possibility of resurrecting Shoestring at some point in the future... "I've always tackled things that were a challenge, not for the money. But I'm not knocking money as motivation - maybe we'll need that kind of work now; after all, we've got commitments we didn't have before." Commitments, he's always had. This is the guy who spent two months of intensive training in American sign language to perfect his part of the speech therapist in the Play Of The Year, Children Of A Lesser God. Not easy. And the play itself, virtually a monologue on his part, must have been both physically and mentally exacting. He shrugs. "I loved the play and I wanted to the part. There's no point in being half-hearted about things, is there? Everything you do, you should put your heart into. I detest apathy." Pouring heart, soul, blood and sweat into that part for a year meant that when it came to an end, he nearly did, too. A week prior to his leaving the cast, he collapsed with bronchitis. The show, needless to say, went on. But that's Trevor's way. Work, then play - and the play lined up right now is a few weeks basking by the sea, close to their Italian villa: "No, of course we don't own it! We can just about stretch to renting it for three weeks." Holidays figure large in their lives. Both Sharon and Trevor are sun and sea lovers, and have always made a point of winding up work and winding down with a couple of tropical breaks every year. "In our line of work, looks matter. You've got to keep in shape, both for your own stamina and so people will still want to look at you. Let's face it, you're the tube of toothpaste!" This particular tube is looking a bit squeezed round the edges right now, just prior to the holiday. The moustache might be gone but his manner, as he sprawls across a canvas armchair, has every bit of the ambling, shambling appeal of Eddie Shoestring. Even the clothes - khaki trousers and soft white shirt - lend the air of scruffy comfort that his screen counterpart became famous for. It’s easy to see why he won the title of Sexiest Man on Television. You could sleep on him. Sleep, however is a rare and treasured commodity in this household, since Alice came along. She has brought with her the biggest change in their lifestyle since Sharon and Trevor met, five years ago. But they believe that, rather than disrupting their nights and their routine, she has brought a settling influence into their lives - particularly for Sharon. "I'm a very speedy person, so I had to make a concerned effort to calm down and relax during pregnancy. In a way, that's brought us together as a couple, because it meant I was at home playing housewife, and able to give the Trevor the support he needed during the run of the play." She's not perturbed, either, about having to put her acting career on to "hold" for such a length of time, even though it must have been difficult, as part of a partnership, to watch Trevor's star in the ascendant while hers languished. Resignedly, she shrugs, "I didn't particularly want to be cast as a pregnant mum and, anyway, that's not the way people see me. I tend to get glam roles, so the lump had to be got rid of before I could really work again." Besides which, the support was a two-way stretch. Trevor, it seems, is a man to lean on. "He's very supportive. Throughout the pregnancy, and particularly at the birth, his help was absolutely invaluable. he got me through it completely naturally. I had no pain-killers, no gas and air, nothing. Just Trevor's help. During the birth, he was so encouraging he was actually cheering me on, like I was a home team!" Trevor laughs. "I was in a state of complete shock throughout. It really was a stunning experience, particularly as Alice popped her head out into the world and was bawling her eyes out before the rest of her arrived! It might sound melodramatic, but it was a magical day. I'll never, ever forget the moment when, while I was holding her, she opened her eyes for the first time. Then the doctor and the midwife left us alone in this little room with the February afternoon sunlight filtering in. It was as if life went into slow motion then, it was so unreal, somehow, so peaceful. "Apart from that, having a baby has really put our lives into perspective. You eliminate all the silly little worries that ever plagued you. And we had some not-so-silly worries during the pregnancy, didn't we? remember the measles scare?" He looks across at Sharon, who shivers at the memory. "we'd visited some friends who called up a few days later to inform us, ever so casually, that their son had developed German measles the next day. Of course, we flipped, especially as I was appearing in a play about deafness, and that's one of the side effects of measles in pregnancy. Ah, but she's absolutely perfect, aren't you, Alice?" The look Trevor gives his daughter says it all.

Trevor Eve as doting dad is a new role in his life, but one to which he's adapted like a natural. There's no novice stuff here, no holding her like she's a priceless piece of Dresden. He has her gripped firmly, strong hands supporting her stomach. "Say a few words to the nation, Alice. You'll make more sense than most of us grown-ups do." Alice obliges with an ear piercing scream in her first-ever interview, and is promptly plucked off by Sharon for a feed and a change. It's noticeable that Trevor isn't the one to leap to the fore, brandishing bottle and clean nappy. So does the fond father image extend no further than cooing and cosseting? "Certainly not. I'm half of this partnership and I'm quiet capable of knuckling down to get the dirty work done. We've handled role reversal before. You have to be versatile in this game, because one of you is often working while the other isn't. Right now, I'm seriously thinking of sending Sharon out to work for a year while I stay at home to look after the baby. Absolute paradise!" he grins his Shoestring grin. "I'm perfectly capable around the house, you know. I don't mind cooking or cleaning or scrubbing floors. Anything like that." He draws the line at DIY, however. When they bought this airy, spacious house, it was, he says, "completely dilapidated. I've done all the handyman bit... hammering, knocking down walls, chiseling. No more! This time, I'm paying someone else to do it for me." He gestures towards the window, where two guys are toiling away in a muddy space that is - or soon will be - the back garden. "That was 30 foot of dark, depressing jungle until recently," he explains. "Then the factory behind us closed down and all its land was ordered to be given to the local householders. So we now have an unexpected bonus - 60 foot of dark, depressing jungle! And these lads are landscaping a garden out of it for us." He crumples, a look of pain crossing his face. "Oh, that will sound terrible in print, won't it? Actually, what they're doing is trying to lay a patio without puddles and putting down a nice bit of turf, so that we can sit outside in the summer and do the whole suburban bit with barbecues. Lovely." If you didn't catch the throaty chuckle, you'd be convinced he was serious for a second. Maybe he is, but with that confusing switch from intense earnestness to almost childlike glee that is Trevor Eve's manner, he's off and running in another direction now. Towards Alice, who's made a reappearance with Mum. Suitably cleaned and contented, she's treated to the spectacle of Das as an entertainer. Humming the heartbeat backing track of the film Jaws, he takes her off on a dive bomb expedition of the south sofa. Alice, in case you hadn't guessed, is the shark. She loves this game and grins gummily "Isn't she lovely?" he asks rhetorically. "She's already had her first offer of work, doing an advertisement, when she was only four days old!" Needless to say, this kind of premature public exposure was graciously rejected. Alice will probably have performing talent oozing from her pores, but there is such a thing as too much, too soon. Trevor has already forewarned me there will be no photos with the baby, thank you. As parents go, Trevor Eve could well win yet another award in this sphere, to add to the many he's collared so far. But don't get him wrong - he's not going to shirk from the disciplinary duties just because his daughter happens to be the most beautiful thing that ever beamed at him. "Nonsense," he assures me. "She hasn't made me go all soft and gooey-eyed and stay-at-home." He catches my eye. "Aha! I've got your angle. You see me as a soppy dad," he chides, with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Taking tea with the Eves in their cute little house with baby Alice cooing in the background, Mum polishing the silver - all very hunky-dory, eh?" His tongue, by now, is making a very large bump in his cheek. But who am I to disagree with him? After all, here we are, propped up by cushions, in these comfortable surroundings, taking Earl Grey and chocolate digestives. And if Alice isn't cooing, she's doing a passable impression of a Cheshire cat, all curled up in her lace-trimmed Moses basket. Then, sure enough, from the kitchen comes the sound of spit and polish as Mum-in-law applies a liberal dose of elbow grease to the family heirlooms of the future. ("Only time it ever gets done is when I'm here," she informs us amiably.) This isn't cozy? So maybe Mr. Eve has another adjective to describe it? "That's not my job," he counters deftly. He can be sharp when it suits him, you see. And why not? Talent, looks, luck. love - Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughan have got more than their fair share of the lot, and the nicest thing about them is that they've remained down-to-earth, honest and utterly unchanged by it all. There's not many that can claim that.