Interview: Darren Boyd - When Darren met Dervla; A year after he got together with Dervla Kirwan, Darren Boyd reveals it was love at first sight. By Sally Morgan.

It sounds like a romantic cliche, but when Kiss Me Kate star Darren Boyd first saw actress Dervla Kirwan, their eyes locked across a crowded room. At that moment, it wasn't so much a case of sparks flying as an entire chemistry set blowing up.

"I don't know how to define it but, whatever happened, it drew us to each other like a magnet," says Darren, 29. "Our friends all told us that they could feel that chemistry too, that there was something special going on."

Dervla, also 29, was just leaving the BBC drinks party when Darren was introduced by a mutual friend. It only took a few seconds for them both to realise that this was the start of something big.

"She was in a rush, but we chatted briefly and I knew instinctively that I'd be seeing her again. It was one of those 'some enchanted evening' kind of experiences," says Darren, who's back on TV tonight in a new series of the BBC1 sitcom Kiss Me Kate.

Only a few weeks before they met, Dervla had been engaged to Grafters star Stephen Tompkinson, her partner of five years. They met in 1994 on the set of Ballykissangel but broke up in September last year blaming "pressures of work". Within a few weeks of separating, Dervla had met Darren, and two months ago Stephen got engaged to PR executive Nicci Taylor.

In October, Dervla and Darren celebrated their first anniversary, and it is obvious from his broad grin that they are still very much in love. But mention their relationship becoming more permanent and he starts to squirm in his seat. "I'm very happy," he says. "And so is she. But marriage? Let's just say we're content as we are. I do want to get married and have kids one day but Dervla and I have no plans for that right now.

"I'm not the sort of person who makes concrete decisions about life, anyway. My philosophy has always been to embrace and accept whatever life has in store for me. Then I met this wonderful human being. What attracted me to her, apart from the obvious, is that she's a genuinely lovely person."

And he refuses to be rattled by the comparisons between him and Dervla's ex - both tall and blond.

"I've heard that some people think Stephen and I look alike," he says coolly. "But comments like that have no bearing on our relationship whatsoever."

To be fair, the only thing Darren and Stephen seem to have in common is Dervla. At 6ft 4ins, Darren is taller and broader than his predecessor in love.

"I've a tendency to put on weight around my middle," he admits. "I didn't notice until the waistband on my trousers started to feel tight. At first, I thought I'd shrunk them in the wash. Then I weighed myself and I was two stone overweight. It took me nine months of cycling, running and sweating like an ox to shed the pounds. Now I'm slimmer, people keep telling me how healthy I look.

"It helps that I'm tall. I take after my dad, who's 6ft 2ins. But it breaks my heart when I see tall men stooping to compensate for their height. You should stand tall and be proud of your size."

Darren's role in Kiss Me Kate had been written for a short, overweight man in his forties. "I got this character George's lines to read but I didn't resemble him in any way," he says. "So when I heard they were changing him into a taller, thinner, younger man called Craig so that I could play him, I was stunned."

In the first series, Craig, a nice-but-dim travel agent had an unrequited crush on Kate (Caroline Quentin), the counsellor who lives downstairs. In the new series his relationship with secretary Mel (Amanda Holden) continues to blossom in the face of setbacks.

"Yes, I've kissed Amanda a few times," smiles Darren. "But my relationship with her is professional.

"It's none of my business what goes on in her private life, so I wasn't a shoulder to cry on," he adds, referring to the recent blip in her marriage to Les Dennis after she admitted a fling with Neil Morrissey.

Born in Hastings, East Sussex, Darren is the only child of John, a double-glazing salesman, and Maureen, a housewife. He caught the acting bug at 16 when he went to a local theatre rehearsal and was cast in Oliver. He got a diploma in graphic design at college, then auditioned for drama school, but his grant application was turned down. So he travelled around Africa, then did various jobs in a loading bay, a warehouse, and moving washing machines around a store, doing amateur dramatics in his spare time.

Five years ago, he got a part in the chorus of West End musical Les Miserables. There he began a two-year romance with Carmen Cusack, 29, who had the leading role of Fantine. A week after leaving, he was cast in Kiss Me Kate. Since the first series he has also appeared in the Channel 4 comedy Smack The Pony.

"My career is very important to me," says Darren. "But I won't sacrifice my personal life for the sake of it. I'd like kids one day, but being a dad isn't paramount at the moment. Even so, when I met Caroline Quentin's daughter, Emily, I thought she was the prettiest and most well-behaved baby I'd ever seen. It didn't make me feel broody. But when the time comes, if I turn out to be as good a husband and father as my own dad, I'll have got it right.

"My parents raised me with so much love and grace, and were always there for me. Fortunately, I come from a stable background, and it's my ambition to give my kids the same."

Whether or not that will be with Dervla, Darren is keeping schtum.

Kiss Me Kate, Saturday, BBC1, 9.30pm.

CAPTION(S):

ALL-EMBRACING: With Dervla