The day Dr Who star through a hissy over my question

IT should have been the pinnacle of her career so far, but when Nicola Sands was meant to pick up a prestigious TV award she found she had a more pressing engagement.

The ITV Yorkshire presenter was all ready for her big night at the glittering Royal Television Society awards ceremony - with false tan in place and gorgeous gown hanging ready in the wardrobe. But instead of the swish party she expected, she found herself giving birth in a hospital's maternity suite.

As her colleagues enjoyed the sparkling occasion in Leeds in June it was left to her husband, Steve, to tell her she had won the Presenter of the Year award.

Nicola was already a week overdue when the awards ceremony took place in June this year but she was determined not to miss the party.

Although she didn't think she would win against competition such as Paul Hudson and Christine Talbot - presenters she describes as both highly talented' - she stressed: "I was just thrilled to be nominated.

"I was determined to go. I thought it isn't every day you get nominated for a big industry award."

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"I was so excited about this big do, it was the biggest night of my career," she said.

"I had a fake tan, and I had a really nice maternity dress all ready.

"And then the baby decided she was going to come out that night.

The dress is still hanging up in the wardrobe," she says ruefully.

But not too ruefully - she and lighting cameraman Steve are clearly delighted with the new addition to their family - Jemima - who herself featured on Calendar in a story about her award winning mum before she was even a day old.

"It was like having my biggest personall achievement and biggest professional achievement on the same night," she said. "It kind of made it even more special."

Nicola, 35, who lives in Burley-in-Wharfedale, and this year switched on the village's Christmas lights, attributes her professional success at least partly to Da Vinci Code star Tom Hanks.

It was her interview with him - not so much an interview, more of a grab'- when he was filming the blockbuster in Lincoln which led to her success in the awards stakes.

So keen was she to speak to the Hollywood star that she got up at 3.30 in the morning to wait outside his hotel in Lincoln, where he was filming.

" I just went over and waited outside like a saddo with loads of fans," she laughed.

"I had not long got the job as entertainment correspondent with ITV Yorkshire and I was as keen as mustard."

Undeterred after veteran actor Ian McKellen told her to leave him alone she persevered and managed to snatch a brief conversation with Tom Hanks himself.

"I thought he was lovely and he had a real aura about him," she said. "I was so excited to see him, and he made such an impression on everyone who was there.

"After meeting him I won two awards - so I'm sure a bit of his star dust must have rubbed off on me that day."

Her experiences with the Hollywood star was in stark contrast to a less successful interview with home-grown actor Christopher Ecclestone which made the national press when he apparently stormed off after objecting to her line of questioning.

The incident happened when the Dr Who star was launching a project for disengaged youngsters at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Nicola said: "His people gave strict instructions to the waiting hacks that there was to be no mention of Dr Who, but I thought as a journalist the news agenda should not be dictated by a bunch of PR people.

"Obviously I asked plenty of questions about the cause he was there to promote but I thought I wouldn't be a proper journalist if I didn't ask what the viewer at home wanted to know about him playing Dr Who"

But she says the actor took umbrage when she asked him why he had decided to leave the hit TV show.

""He just gave me a gargoyle like stare and in this big theatrical gesture just stormed off. I thought he was the most pretentious celebrity I have ever interviewed."

She stressed: "I don't believe as a celebrity reporter you should doff and bow to celebrities, because at the end of the day they are just ordinary people. They are no better than you are."

But from her own experience Nicola believes that '99 per cent' of stars are perfectly courteous. And she says most are happy to answer reasonable - if sometimes tricky - questions.

"I remember when Darren Day had been in I'm a Celebrity and the PR people had said not to mention Tara Palmer Tomkinson because they had had that thing. But I asked him and he was absolutely fine."

"When I interviewed Ant and Dec after they had done the film Alien Autopsy I threw in a couple of questions about other things and they were such professionals they were fine about it."

Other celebrities she has interviewed included the Duchess of York who she said looked lovely', and who passed on her tips about weight loss.

"She basically said if you makes friends with your mind your bottom will follow."

But despite her glamorous new look the Duchess, who was on a whistle-stop tour to promote her new book was a little less sure of her bearings.

"I asked her have you been here before,' and she said yes, I love Manchester' - and I said so what do you think of Leeds?' She recalls being surprised when she went to interview Dame Helen Mirren during the filming of Calendar Girls and found the star had apparently made no effort to glam up.

"She was in a dressing gown and curlers and no make-up. I did my chat with her and thought she could have put a bit of face on. But when I got back to the office I could see why - the camera loved her with no make-up. I think it is her bone structure - she looked lovely in the interview."

For those less fortunate than Dame Helen, Nicola revealed a disconcerting trade secret from the days, early in her career, when she worked as a researcher for The Time The Place.

She recalled how she was expected to put the more attractive audience members in view of the camera. They used to put all the ugly ones at the back - so if you do a show like that and you're put at the back you know why," she laughed.

It's one of the more shallow aspects of TV, and despite her obvious love for her job Nicola has no illusions about the fickle nature of the business.

As secure as she seems to be she has made sure that she has other irons in the fire - most notably the property company, Jane Duncan Properties, which she and Steve run together.

The couple, who buy properties to develop, also have a few buy to let' properties and are in the process of buying a house in Bulgaria.

Nicola, who began investing in bricks and mortar nine years ago, is studying for National Association of Estate Agency exams, which she will sit in May.

"TV is quite precarious," she said. "My property business is something else I can do - so I never have all my eggs in one basket."

"TV is very subjective. It is about whose face fits at the time. It can be a tough business."