Planespotters Paul and Leslie Coppin were on their honeymoon when they were thrown into jail in Greece and accused of spying. As the film of their ordeal is shown on TV tomorrow, Lesley reveals she's still waiting for that honeymoney. STEVE PRATT reports.

On their first night behind bars in a Greek jail, planespotters Paul and Lesley Coppin played a game to pass the hours. Who, they asked themselves, would they like to portray them if a film was made of their ordeal? Paul thought that Robbie Coltrane would be a good candidate to play him. Dame Judi Dench was Lesley's choice to play her.

Their light-hearted game was quickly forgotten as they and their fellow British planespotters were sucked into the Greek legal system and accused of being spies. A spell behind bars, several court appearances, a trial and an appeal later they were all released as their story made headlines around the world, caused political ructions and led to a proposed change in European law to protect tourists.

The fictionalised version of their story didn't work out quite as planned. The Coppins are played in the TV movie Planespotting by two of our busiest small screen actors, Mark Benton and Lesley Sharp. Not that they'd be disappointed with either them or the film.

The story follows events on the Greek trip in 2001 which was planned as a belated honeymoon by Paul, who runs a business taking planespotters to foreign sites. They were all arrested and accused of being spies while noting the numbers of military aircraft at an air show. The fact that Paul had a letter of authority permitting the group to be there was brushed aside.

After a night in prison, Paul and Lesley, the only non-spotter in the group, were split up and sent to separate prisons. They were convicted of spying but given leave to return to this country to prepare their appeal. They had to decide whether to return and risk years in prison if they lost the case. It's a story that, at times, defies belief as diplomats and lawyers attempt to find a way out of the situation without the Greeks losing face.

Yet the question the Coppins fear is one of the first to be asked - did they really have sex in the prison van as depicted in the film? "I knew you'd ask that," says Lesley. "It's a slightly dramatised moment. There was a bit of tension because we hadn't seen each other for a while and didn't know how long it would be before we saw each other again. If nothing else, it demonstrated our love for each other."

Both say they, and the other planespotters who have less prominent roles in the film, are happy with the result, even if it was difficult to watch. "It was a little bit like having your teeth extracted," says Lesley, the more vocal of the two. "That's no reflection on the film, it's just difficult to watch anything relating to your life. There were moments of cringeing and some moments were very poignant.

"The prison scenes, while not exactly what happened, are very representative of the feelings and emotions. It got very pent up during those five weeks in prison."

Paul has a cameo in the film as - what else? - a planespotter. It's not easy explaining the attraction of the hobby which, like trainspotting, is a peculiarly British interest that many feel has little, if any, point. "It's a very difficult concept to understand - people wanting to collect serial numbers," admits Lesley. "But people who go on these trips, there's no front to them. There are no pretensions. People come from a range of working backgrounds."

Several characters in the film veer close to caricature, notably Garry the Brummie. Lesley doesn't see it as making fun of him, it's just "been hammed up a little bit". The real Garry has seen it, thinks it's funny and is quite happy with it. "When you're in a situation, some aspects of your personality that you don't want to come out, do come out," she says.

"I was quite shocked when I got back home that I hadn't been as strong as I thought I should have been. I thought I'd be more defiant, more angry. The reality was that my freedom was taken away, my vulnerability was to the fore and my emotions were under the skin.

"You're locked up, have no control over your life. You can't even go out and exercise if the guards don't want to sit out there and watch you. Everything is dictated and it's surprising how quickly you become accustomed to it."

While the men in the party had each other's company in their prison, Lesley was on her own among female prisoners, of whom only a few spoke any English. She felt isolated and alone. "Paul was better off because he had more contact with the embassy and lawyers going to see him more often," she says.

She admits that she did lose hope, after endless false reports of her release from prison. "I had four or five weeks of, 'you'll be out on Tuesday' stories, then there's a slight hiccup and you'll be out on Friday. I had weeks of this. Then one person said, 'you have every reason to be optimistic' and I was rude to him," she says.

It took visits from politicians and embassy officials for her even to be allowed to have coffee in the prison, and get a change of clothes. Paul's main concern was not hearing from Lesley for nine or ten days. "It took the Greek foreign minister to organise a telephone call to one another," he says.

He'd been arrested before while planespotting which, where military aircraft are concerned, seems to be a hazardous hobby. "I was in and out of court in 12 hours in Turkey. The Greeks managed to stretch it out for a year. I've probably been stopped in every country I've been into, but only taken to court in Turkey," he says.

"Because of the Greek legal system, we could have been sentenced to 20 years within 12 hours of our arrest. Fortunately, there were two people in court on that first day who translated for us. In Greece, everyone shouts all the time. The initial two court appearances were awful. We had no idea what was going on. They don't take statements or ask questions. They don't investigate. You have to prove the allegations are incorrect."

Despite the ordeal, they aren't bitter about what happened. Lesley even views it as a strengthening experience and a positive influence on their relationship. "We were both very strong throughout," she says. "The worst time was between the trial and the appeal due to Paul's cavalier attitude. But we have come through it very strong. We hadn't been married long and for both of us it was a second marriage. It brought our two families together. They were involved a lot while we were in prison. It strengthened those ties, which doesn't always happen when there's a second marriage."

Paul still organises planespotting trips abroad, although it's been harder to attract new people since the Greek incident. Some of the lads involved in what he calls "the great fiasco" have continued going on trips. He doesn't even rule out a return to Greece "if we get some guarantees we wouldn't be arrested".

He certainly doesn't intend abandoning planespotting. "One of my ways of relaxing is sitting with books and catalogues of what I've seen. I find it an enjoyable way to relax. There's an element of obsession in it as well, I suppose," he says. "It's very difficult to say why a lot of people have it as their hobby. If you get enjoyment and socialise and travel, it's a fairly good way to spend your life."

There's still one outstanding matter - their honeymoon. "I'm still waiting," says Lesley. "We'll have a great time wherever we go, but there won't be any planes except the one we fly out on."

* Planespotting is on ITV1 tomorrow at 9pm.