Melanie Hill spends a lot of the BBC1 Crime Doubles drama NCS Manhunt in front of a computer screen, using state-of-the-art technology to help track down master criminals, drugs barons and serial killers. In real life, the actress couldn't be more different from communications expert DS Ruby Sparks.

"I can barely get a computer switched on," admits the Sunderland-born actress. "I'm not into e-mail. My dad keeps saying, 'what's your e-mail address?' and I think, 'I can't be doing with this'."

Fortunately, daughters Lorna, 14, and Molly, ten, are more computer literate. "I leave it all to them. They use the computer for research and things," says their mum.

"On the set, as I'm filming, there's a computer guy who's always there and can go through things as they come up in the script."

She's back on the Beeb in three fresh NCS Manhunt stories, starring opposite David Suchet, Samantha Bond and Keith Barron in the series about the National Crime Squad, Britain's answer to the FBI.

Hill is "dependable and committed" DS Ruby Sparks, one of the team of detectives fighting serious and organised crime. The new series finds them on the trail of contract killers and dragged into the underworld of drugs barons.

Fresh from viewing the first two episodes, she pronounced herself "thrilled" with the series. "It's shot absolutely beautifully, like a feature film," she says. "The storylines are really gripping, quite dark. One is about a serial killer. It's quite violent but not gratuitous and not all the way through, just the odd thing."

She has worked in the past with the series creator and writer Malcolm McKay, who also adapted Gormanghast for the BBC. "He's a really great writer," she says. "NCS Manhunt is different to normal cop series because it doesn't centre around the detectives and what's going on in their lives. It's plot driven, and our characters are revealed bit by bit.

"I've worked out in my head Ruby Sparks' personal story but I don't think it's that relevant in the story. Basically, I'm playing a hands-on, 24/7 copper. Most of these officers have families but they have to be selfless and go to the other end of the country at the drop of a hat."

The cast met a retired NCS operative to learn about the organisation, but it wasn't possible to join one of their current operations because of the secrecy surrounding them.

She completed filming NCS Manhunt just before Christmas, rounding off a very successful year work-wise, which saw her film the TV movie Hot Money with Caroline Quentin, as well as another series of the BBC's women's football team drama, Playing The Field.

The latter found her back on the field kicking a football around. "I stopped playing in the team in series two, then they brought me back into the team for the last series. So they really must have been desperate," she explains. "But it's good fun and I enjoy it. I've been to the gym a lot."

The BBC announced that was the final series. But, as she points out, they said that about the previous series, too. She'd happily do more episodes if they were offered. "We'll see what happens," she says philosophically.

She's pleased that Ruby is so different to Playing The Field's motherly Rita (although her on-screen affair with a younger man did cause daughter Lorna some embarrassment).

"Compared to Ruby, Rita's life is quite mundane," says Hill. "Rather than dashing around solving crimes, she has a relatively normal life bringing up her children and sharing a connection with a group of women who all love one thing - their football team.

"Career is very much a secondary thing in Rita's life. She's utterly different from Ruby, whose career is her whole life."

Like most of her recent work, filming Playing The Field brought her up North and back to her roots. She grew up in Sunderland, attending Monkwearmouth School. Her original intention was to be a graphic designer, and she was accepted at various colleges and universities. Then a drama tutor suggested that she tried auditioning for London drama school RADA.

"I hadn't done any drama until the sixth form when I had a small part in The Crucible. Then I did the lead in the next play. I didn't try for any other drama school. I thought I'd just have the one attempt," she recalls.

She won a place at RADA where she met her future - and now ex-husband, Sean Bean, star of TV's Sharpe and current cinema release The Lord Of The Rings.

Their two daughters live with her, and she tailors her work schedule accordingly. "Everything has to be right and I only do things that won't take me away from home too much," she says.

"I'm enjoying myself with my kids. We talk a lot. They are really good communicators. The problem is shutting Lorna up."

Lorna is showing signs of following in her parents' footsteps, joining the local young people's theatre group. "She loves every minute," says Hill, adding that she won't try to dissuade her daughters from acting as other showbiz mums sometimes threaten to do.

"My parents didn't try to stop me. The business has been very good to me and their father. I believe you should do whatever you want to do, if you are happy doing it."

She last worked in the theatre a couple of years ago, at the Almeida in London. Since then, offers of plays in regional theatre have been turned down as she didn't want to leave her daughters for the length of time that involved.

Published: Saturday, March 2, 2002