Mum, wife, broadcaster and self-styled nosey parker Caroline Quentin explains how her new series brought her up close and personal with lifeboating

‘Oh do shut up darlings!’ calls Caroline Quentin, emerging from her renovated farmhouse and sending six dogs inside, before greeting me on the drive with a grin and a firm handshake. Inside, I sit at a scrubbed table and Caroline hands me a steaming mug of tea. The dogs head out into a sloping garden that gives way to rolling Devon farmland. ‘Right then,’ says Caroline, grabbing a chair. ‘The RNLI!’

I haven’t asked a question yet – and I don’t need to. ‘Did you know I went out on exercise with the Padstow lifeboat?’ laughs Caroline. ‘It was brilliant! We had a slipway launch, and then went out on exercise. The sea was a bit “lumpy” though – me and the producer got very green. And I came back and washed the boat down with the crew. They are the loveliest people. I felt so lucky. How many people get the chance to do that?’

It’s a good question. Relatively few know what it’s like to stand aboard a state-of-the-art all-weather lifeboat and feel the rush of the wind as they sweep into the sea from a steep slipway, powering offshore at 25 knots. And those that do are usually going about the serious business of saving lives at sea.

But as she scrapes the surface of county life in Cornwall with Caroline Quentin, these are just the sort of memorable moments that the TV actress and presenter has been getting the chance to experience – moments she doesn’t take for granted. ‘I’ll never forget it. The other amazing thing was I found out I had a relation on the crew,’ she adds, explaining that a distant cousin is a lifeboat volunteer at Padstow.

While her TV series has given her access to unique experiences, none have come about without effort from Caroline too. ‘I’m not one to let the producers do all the research for me and then just read a script,’ she states. ‘I have a nosey nature. I am genuinely interested. So when I meet people, it’s me finding out what they do and having a go at it myself.’

Having holidayed in Cornwall since childhood and sailed often too, Caroline is keen that her show celebrates the county’s relationship with the sea. As well as meeting a lifeboat crew, she follows the lives of fishermen in the show’s second series, due to air on ITV this month (January 2013). ‘I think some of the people who go out on boats are happiest at sea,’ she points out. ‘They are a different breed.’

As I take a slurp of tea and catch a glimpse of the stunning view out of the window, I reflect on Caroline’s reinvention of herself. She carved out a TV career in comedy, winning awards for her lead role in the 1990s BBC sitcom Men Behaving Badly alongside fellow RNLI supporter Martin Clunes. Jonathan Creek and grittier dramas followed.

Today, many of her TV roles are rooted in reality – her Cornish exploits take her to her favourite holiday haunt, in Restoration Home she meets people who are taking on ambitious renovations of old buildings (something Caroline isn’t new to herself) and Caroline Quentin’s National Parks will air in the Summer, in which she takes her inquisitiveness to the UK’s most beloved areas of beauty, wildlife and culture.

‘I’m settled here now,’ says Caroline, clarifying that this farmhouse is her home, not her retreat – it’s where she lives with her husband and two children. The days of learning scripts in the heart of London must seem like a different world.

That’s not to say Caroline has turned her back on drama. When we meet, she is preparing to cast and direct a screenplay she has written for Sky Atlantic. Again though, it’s focused on real life – it will be one of the Little Crackers series of autobiographical TV dramas. ‘It’s about when I was a child, learning to dance,’ explains Caroline, referring to the very beginnings of her career.

Before her first TV acting break in her 20s, she had worked in pantomime and Summer seasons, having begun as a chorus girl. ‘The toughest part is that I lost my mum recently, and she obviously features in this story. I’m worried I’ll start crying while directing the actors.’

It’s nearly time for Caroline to head to the local school and pick up her daughter, who once got caught in a current while kayaking and had to be rescued. It was an incident that inspired Caroline to write a piece for an RNLI advice leaflet for parents, to prevent young people from getting into trouble at the seaside.

‘And to know there are people who will drop everything to answer the call, wherever and whoever you are, is amazing,’ says Caroline. ‘That’s why I’ve been a supporter for a long time – and always will be.’