Fay Ripley corrects police using knowledge from Suspects

The actress plays Detective Inspector Martha Bellamy in the Channel 5 show and said that her inside information on police procedure had come in handy after there was a burglary in her street.

She told The Sun: “I was doing my nosey neighbour routine, trying to find out what had happened, and the police officers started talking about the next part. I corrected them and I was right.

“I was like, ‘Actually, mate, you’re not allowed to say that because this is what is going to happen next.’ Their jaws literally dropped and then they realised who I was. Some of my neighbours were like, ‘She’s on the telly and she’s playing a cop.’

“So I was right, which was brilliant. What was hilarious is that there was a crime committed in our street during the time I was filming the show.”

Fay added that she has been stopped in the street by other officers who are fans of the cop show.

“I was walking my dog on Hampstead Heath and a police car went past, the officers saluted me and went, ‘Ma’am’ – in the show I would be their boss.

“The nice thing about it was that they weren’t even smiling when they did it. They just nodded as if I was really the boss. I was so pleased with that, I was like, ‘Yes! I love it.’”

Fay continued that she was relieved Suspects, where the script is improvised by the cast, has been a success.

She said: “I don’t know if I am proud of it, I never really feel proud, I just go, ‘Isn’t it good that I don’t have to be embarrassed about it?’

“To be honest, I am hugely relieved because it was a risk, everyone knew it was. The producers were never pretending that it wasn’t a risk. We all went into it thinking, ‘Wow, this could be awful,’ but there was also a decent chance of it working and it has.”