Tantastic, Tam

TV star Tamzin Outhwaite made the most of the sun, topping up her tan during a seven-day break in Dubai.

Tamzin had paid pounds 3,000 for return flights from London and seven nights at the luxurious Royal Mirage Hotel for her and her DJ lover Steve Ellington.

But Steve turned out to be hard to spot. A fellow guest at the hotel admitted: "No one even saw him while she was here."

And when the former EastEnder star flew home on Friday, Ellington's seat next to her was empty.

Tamzin, who is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to her love life, spent her time at the hotel playing gooseberry to ex-Steps singer Claire Richards, who was on holiday with a mystery man.

But, as our pictures show, being the odd one out didn't stop her having fun in the sunand showing she was in terrific shape.

Tamzin first got together with Ellington in December 2000 after being introduced by spoof rapper Ali G.

Their stormy relationship appeared to have finally hit the rocks in March when Ellington - DJ Da Force on the Ali G show - moved out of Tamzin's North London home. But last month it emerged that they were an item again.

Tamzin, who stars in BBC1 drama Out of Control tonight at 9.25pm, began dating Ellington after splitting from her fiance, Glaswegian TV producer Marty Benson.

Out Of Control won Best British Feature Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival last month and is part of Tamzin's pounds 2million golden handcuffs deal with the BBC.

She plays a chain-smoking mother - far removed from glamorous Melanie Owen, the part she made her name with in EastEnders.

Tamzin said of the new role: "It was unlike anything that I'd ever done before."

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