Actress Claire Goose will be appearing next month in ITV’s police drama The
Bill as the new Sergeant Rachel Weston.
Born in Edinburgh, she grew up in Norfolk before attending the Italia Conti
stage school in London at 16. She established herself as nurse Tina Seabrook
in the BBC drama Casualty and more recently played a detective, Mel Silver,
in Waking the Dead. Goose made her movie debut in 2001 in the horror film
Alone.
Goose, 33, is married to the scriptwriter Craig Woodrow, 34. They live in
Chiswick, west London.
How much money do you have in your wallet?
I have £8.27. I normally don’t take out more than £40 at cash machines. That
will last me the week. I’m a slave to work so I don't get a chance to spend
much anyway.
I like to have some change for a coffee — there’s a Starbucks round the corner
from where we’re filming. I tend to use my debit card for my daily shopping.
Do you have any credit cards?
I have a Virgin Money Visa but I only really use it when I go abroad to take
cash out. I know it’s not the most effective way to do it but I’m normally
in such a last-minute rush that I never get round to organising things like
foreign cash.
I have to say, though, Craig was brilliant when we went to New Zealand for our
honeymoon in January. He shopped around and found Nationwide don’t charge
fees for foreign cash withdrawals, so we opened an account and put a great
big lump sum into it before we went there.
Are you a saver or a spender?
Probably more of a saver although I love spending money on interior
decorations. Having said that, I haven’t spent anything on the house
recently. We spent a lot of money when we got married so we’ve decided to
slow down for a bit.
Whenever I earn money I never for a second think all of the money’s mine. I
tell myself that about half of any money I earn is for the taxman.
How much did you earn last year?
With the acting, repeat fees and voiceovers it’s probably getting into the
six-figure mark. For a voiceover you might get anywhere between £150 and
£250 an hour. You also get paid every time it’s used. I recently did a radio
advert for BHS.
I love voiceover work because it’s very different from acting on screen and
there isn’t all that pressure for make-up.
Have you ever been really hard up?
When I first came to London from Norfolk, I was quite hard up. I was 16 at the
time and at drama school.
Dad gave me an allowance for my living expenses but I remember when my
roommate and I had a fiver between us for the whole weekend. We went to the
supermarket and bought a box of cereal, a pint of milk, some toast and some
butter and that’s all we ate — we were pretty sick of it by the end.
The day I left college, I told dad that I didn’t want any money from him. I
wanted to start for myself. I got a part-time job at the NSPCC children’s
charity — I didn’t get a full-time job as I needed to be free for things
like auditions.
Do you own a property?
We have a two-bedroom maisonette in Shepherds Bush, west London. I bought that
in 2002 for £272,000. I lived there for a number of years but I now rent it
out. People say it’s worth about £400,000 but you never know in the current
market. The mortgage on it is about £282,000 so we probably have about
£100,000 or so in equity. We paid off the mortgage on the flat, but we
remortgaged that to put a deposit down on our house in Chiswick in 2004.
It’s a three-bedroom Victorian terrace which we bought for £410,000. Other
places on our road are probably worth about £525,000 to £550,000.
Are you worried about house prices?
What’s happening now with house prices and mortgage rates is scary. The fix on
the flat ended recently so our payments went through the roof. We pay an
extra £100 a week. I think the cheapest I could get was a rate of 6.8%. My
old rate was about 5% and we got that two years ago. We also have management
fees of £1,200 a year which are not covered by the rent.
We used to charge quite high rents, but we spent quite a lot of money — about
£20,000 — doing the place up to quite a high spec. We’re just not getting
interest now, though, so we’ve had to reduce rents. This is potentially a
problem because we just can’t afford to pay for two mortgages for very long.
We’re in the process of changing all our finances to First Direct. We had a
Virgin One offset mortgage for the Chiswick house, which was brilliant, but
it’s a variable-rate deal. We decided to go for a fix instead to protect
ourselves just in case things get even worse. We can offset a large chunk of
the mortgage with our savings so it really makes sense for us.
We keep our repayments the same so our mortgage gets lower every time we put
anything into the offset account.
What is the most lucrative work you have ever done? Did you use the fee for
anything special?
I would say Waking the Dead. I’d worked within the BBC for three years before
it and because I was going straight into another BBC programme they couldn’t
reduce what I was already earning. The rate went up steadily over the four
years I worked on the show. Repeat fees were also good. On the first sale of
repeats, you get 80% of your original fee so that was brilliant.
Repeats have certainly saved my bacon during times when I wasn’t working. I
used the money to put towards the house and also a Land Rover Freelander,
which I now can’t sell for love nor money.
Do you invest in shares?
I have shares in Standard Life and Friends Provident. I got them when they
demutualised.
My accountant also puts money into an investment Isa which is very wise but
it’s very painful.
What’s better — property or pension?
Definitely property. I think you’re guaranteed a better return over the long
term. I have a pension which my dad set up for me when I was 16. He knew I
was going to be self-employed and I’d never get a company pension. I pay
very little into it though — something like £40 a month.
Are you financially better off than your parents?
Not sure. I think my parents are comfortably off. My father was a GP and my
mother had her own decorating company. They’re both retired now.
What’s been your best investment in life?
It would have to be property. I think the Chiswick house is going to be the
best investment in the long term. The flat has done well, but I think it
will probably have a ceiling price that’s much lower than the place in
Chiswick.
What about worst?
The Freelander. Nobody wants a 4x4 nowadays, which is a bit of a shame. I’m
trying to sell it for £9,000. I bought it four years ago for £27,000 brand
new.
I understand what the government is doing with car-tax changes but it’s sad
because I really loved having that car.
I don’t drive it anymore. I have a sponsorship deal with Alfa Romeo. They lend
me a car and I pay for the insurance and petrol but they pay the car tax and
let me drive it. It’s a 2.4 litre Alfa Brera. It costs about £80 to fill up
but it’s diesel so is much more efficient than the Freelander.
Do you manage your financial affairs?
I have an accountant and a financial adviser. I see them once a year.
What aspect of our taxation system would you change?
Get rid of inheritance tax. I think it’s absolutely disgusting that you spend
your whole life paying taxes and then you have your money taxed again when
you die.
When my grandparents died, my parents had to sell their property within six
months to pay the inheritance-tax bill. It was really awful.
They can abolish stamp duty while they’re at it too.
What is your money weakness?
Going out for dinner. We took my parents to the Gordon Ramsay restaurant on
Royal Hospital Road as a Christmas present. It was amazing and worth every
penny.
What is your financial priority?
Get our mortgages paid off. It could be achievable in the next couple of years
if we have a good run.
What is the most extravagant thing you have ever bought?
Apart from property and a big car, it would probably be holidays. I went to
the Caribbean about 10 years ago and stayed in a five-star all-inclusive
resort. It was just over £1,000 for the week, which probably doesn’t sound
like a lot now, but at the time, compared to what I was earning, it was a
huge amount of money.
