Vicky McClure: ‘I’ll have a fry-up for dinner when I can’t think what to cook’

How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Vicky McClure

6.30am

I do the morning teas and my husband Jonny does the evening teas [McClure married her long-term partner Jonny Owen in August last year]. I bring a cuppa back to bed; I like a nice slow start. When I’m filming I’m up early, which I don’t mind, but by the end of the shoot it’s hard!

8.30am

Jonny makes a cracking smoothie. Then it’s usually a boiled egg and soldiers. If there’s sausage or bacon in the fridge, I’ll take a sausage cob or bacon sandwich. I love a fry-up and even have them for dinner sometimes when I can’t think what to cook. I’m not one for following faddy diets like intermittent fasting or drinking salt water first thing in the morning – that sounds horrendous.

10am

I get dressed in something comfy like a hoodie and joggers. But until then, I love pottering in my M&S fluffy floor-length dressing gown and watching the morning TV cookery shows. I like clearing out a drawer or my make-up, too. I’ll chuck on some reggae, which sets my mood for the day. Music is my medicine. It distracts me from picking up my phone and doing emails.

1pm

Lunch is usually just a sandwich. I’m a busy fool, I don’t sit down. I don’t really exercise either – and that’s not a lie. But I’ve got to an age where I need to up my game and find a routine. I want to be healthy and don’t want to get too flabby. I don’t obsess over it and try to shut out the noise. I believe in doing what’s right for you. I dance a lot at my Day Fever parties [daytime discos which she launched with Owen in December] – it’s amazing how much energy you use dancing for five hours. I’ve danced all my life so it’s nice to return to it.

3pm

If there’s a Notts County football game, I’m there. I love the passion people have for supporting their team. My grandad, who’s 99, has always supported Notts County; they’re like the underdog, my team! I like to watch my 16-year-old nephew Kai play too – I’m the noisy, over-supportive aunt on the sideline. I’m very close to him and his six-year-old brother. My family – mum, dad, sister and nephews – all live close by, which is important to me. I get a lot of love from Nottingham – I’m at my best here. I never get FOMO about London.

4pm

If I’m home, I’ll have a nap on the sofa, then a cup of tea with a packet of rich tea biscuits and a film I’ve seen a thousand times, like Dirty Dancing. I don’t really read books, it’s never been something I’m good at. It can’t hold my attention. I didn’t even read Insomnia, by Sarah Pinborough, before I started filming the TV adaptation [on Paramount+ from May 23]. But it’s probably a good thing as I had no preconceptions about the characters or story. The role of a career mum-of-two is quite different for me – there were no acronyms to learn [as in Line of Duty and Trigger Point]. I did buy the book though, hoping Sarah would sign it at the premiere, but then I forgot!

5pm

We’ll order a curry from my local Indian restaurant, Haveli. I love their lamb chops, chicken tikka, fluffy naan and bhajis. I’m not a big drinker. I’ll occasionally have a beer. We always have an early tea; I can’t go out at 10pm like some people.

8pm

Jonny chooses the telly as he picks well. The TV moment of the year has to be Mr Bates vs The Post Office but we’ve also been watching Toast of London. We don’t really go out, although I did go to my friend Tom Davis’s comedy gig recently, and I’m planning to see another friend, Matt Forde, at the Soho Theatre soon.

10pm

I love my bed so much I sometimes go even earlier. I’ll watch some telly or scroll. I’m not into this leaving your phone in another room at bedtime – what if someone calls me?

As told to Louise Burke

Insomnia airs on Paramount+ from May 23