Amanda Holden Christmas is my calm before the BGT storm

Amanda Holden has officially clocked-off for Christmas after another busy year in the spotlight.

It’s her favourite time of the year and she’s looking forward to the calm of family festivities before the madness of Britain’s Got Talent kicks in after New Year.

On top of that eighth series of the UK’s favourite talent show, there are two ‘top secret’ projects in the pipeline.

“The press attention the show attracts is enormous and I always feel like a normal mum one minute and then suddenly Britain’s Got Talent throws me headfirst into the spotlight,” Amanda smiles.

“It’s like nothing else I do and it’s the same for the other judges. Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Simon are an incredible team to work with. We have lots of banter off camera as well as on it.”

But, for now, a break.

“I love everything about Christmas,” says Amanda. “It’s a really big deal in our house. Sitting by the tree in the evening with my husband Chris, when the girls are tucked up in bed, looking at all the twinkling lights makes me feel like a kid again.”

Mum to Lexi, seven and Hollie, who will be two in January, Amanda makes sure Christmas is a work-free zone, and dedicated to her family.

“Whatever I have been up to all year, we’re always at home for Christmas. I always do Christmas stockings for everyone. It’s become a tradition even the dogs get one. Lexi wants Scooby Doo Lego this year, and Hollie is big into Peppa Pig.”

Growing up in a single parent family, Amanda’s childhood was far removed from her life today. Money for Christmas presents wasn’t always easy to find.

“I grew up on a modern housing estate in Hampshire,” she says. “Mum never let on how poor we were when I was little and at the time I had no idea.

“She often went without so my sister and I didn’t have to.”

Christmas was always spent at nan and papa’s.

“Every year we’d get a doll or a toy. Nan would sneak me a sweet Martini with lemonade when I was a bit older and we’d watch The Wizard of Oz together. My mum still does a brilliant Wicked Witch of the West laugh!

“One of the best presents we had as kids were Tomahawk bikes. They gave us the freedom to go on adventures on our estate. I don’t think children today would be out on their own in the way we were.

“One Christmas we asked for a Sindy house, but there wasn’t the money for that. Mum had met Leslie, who I now call Dad, and he made us wonderful ski lodges for our Sindys instead. Debbie and I played with them for hours and I’m still gutted that I sold mine in the end.”

This year Amanda’s nan and mum and dad, will be joining the family at their country home in the Cotswolds.

“Father Christmas has quite a lot to deliver so it’s easier that way,” she says.

“My nan is a massive fan of Tom and Jerry and for years my sister and I would buy her Tom and Jerry presents every Christmas and birthday. In fact, only a few years ago she found a soap we’d bought her when we were little.

“It was all flaky and cracked but she hadn’t wanted to throw it away and had kept it for 30 years!

“Nan has been a big part of my life. I took her to the Britain’s Got Talent finals a few years ago,” Amanda continues, “and she stayed in the bar until five in the morning with me and Simon.”

She may not be meeting firm friend Simon Cowell over the festive period. But she’s clearly looking forward to reuniting for BGT filming next month.

“Working with Simon has been a revelation,” she says. “We have a lot of fun but it’s remarkable to witness the phenomenon that is Mr Cowell. He might appear to be made of stone on screen, but underneath he’s definitely a big softie!”

Breaking into showbusiness in her early 20s, with her first professional part playing Liesl Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Amanda has enjoyed year-on-year success, with highlights of her career including Mel in Kiss Me Kate and Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart on TV and on stage the starring role in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical.

But she’d love to do a period drama. “It would have to be something where I’d get to wear a bonnet,” she says with a laugh. “I’ve also always wanted to do Shakespeare as that is such a big challenge as an actress either way a part as a wench would suit me down to the ground!”

Despite regularly globetrotting, with her schedule this year including stints on America’s CBS network as their UK correspondent, Amanda admits she’s very much a home bird at heart.

“The country lifestyle always appealed to me,” she says. “I used to joke that my ideal role would be playing Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May as I’ve always been the type of girl who liked making bread.”

Vegetarian since her teens and a patron of The Born Free Foundation, Amanda still cooks a traditional Christmas roast for the family. “I was never a fan of meat. Where other kids would leave their veg, I’d tuck in,” she says. “I’m happy to cook meat for other people though. I was stuffing a chicken when Chris proposed to me in 2004.

“My hands were covered in grease and garlic when he shrieked from the bathroom there was a big spider in the shower. Chris is a real girl when it comes to spiders so I rushed in ready for combat, opened the shower door and instead of a big hairy spider was a ring box containing the perfect diamond ring.”

Chris prefers to stay out of the limelight: “One of the prices of fame is losing your privacy,” says Amanda, “and that can be very tough on those around you. He hates any public attention. I still can’t believe he married me. He’s carried us through every storm and is the very best daddy to our girls.”

After Christmas, Amanda will head off with the family for a touch of winter sun and relaxation ahead of her busy start to 2014.

“I love the sea and can just be Mummy when I’m away. I spend most of the time with no make-up looking completely windswept!

“Chris moans I have no hobbies, but that’s because my hobbies turned into my dream and my dream turned into my job. The most important thing in my life is to be Mrs Chris Hughes, mummy to Lexi and Hollie.”

Amanda Holden’s autobiography No Holding Back is published by Simon & Schuster.