Martine McCutcheon has told how her fiance proposed to her by Albert Bridge in south-west London

Former EastEnders actress Martine McCutcheon has described how her fiance asked her to marry him in a “truly magical” proposal on the banks of the Thames in south-west London.

The Love Actually movie star and singer will marry musician Jack McManus later this year and had her hen-do with six friends in Paris.

She told Hello! magazine how McManus proposed to her last December.

She said: “London’s Embankment is one of my favourite places in the world and because it was snowing and there wasn’t another soul around, there was something truly magical about it.

“It was there, by Albert Bridge, that Jack got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

“It was so emotional. Then we ran back to the car laughing and squealing like kids as we were so excited.”

She said had been scared of settling down until she met McManus.

She said: “If you’ve been abandoned by a parent or brought up by a single parent as I was, deep down you feel that’s going to happen again.

“Now, with Jack, I feel completely loved. In other relationships I’ve had to apologise for elements of who I am - ‘Sorry about the press,’ or, ‘Sorry it’s not glamorous 24/7.’

“With Jack, there’s no need for me to apologise or compromise.”