I have rituals....time my shower based on what character I'm playing... I like to try and smell like them too

Acting is not the most routine of jobs. Yet for actress AnneMarie Duff, nothing is more important than her rituals.

- SANJEETA BAINS

In fact, the Shameless star is so superstitious she even changes her hygiene schedule depending on the character she is playing.

Speaking ahead of next Wednesday's return of Channel 4 drama Suspect, the 53-year-old says sticking to her method helps counterbalance unknown quantities, especially on the stage.

She explains: "You don't know if the show's going to be good tonight, you don't know if someone's going to forget the lines, you don't know...

"So you have all these things. I have my rituals. I'll go, like, 'I do this at this time', and 'I do that at this time. You get little sort of obsessive-compulsive behaviours that are... they're really rituals, superstitions, aren't they?"

She adds: "I know exactly the time I have to have a shower before a show, and it depends on the character."

Joking that some observers might find it quite dark, AnneMarie says she goes as far as to ensure she smells exactly how she would expect her character to, painstakingly the matching perfume to the role.

Even when playing the same character, such as when she was Lady Macbeth in both Broadway and the National Theatre in London, she had to have separate fragrances for the two separate productions.

"I am superstitious. I'm really superstitious," she admits. "But I think it's like being a gambler, or a footballer.