The romantic comedy, which airs on Saturday, Hallmark Channel, offers you the chance to erase the image of her Desperate Housewives character Edie Britt. Edie was last seen crashing into a light pole, leaving the car and was electrocuted.
"This character is very kind and straight-forward," Sheridan, 47, says. "She's a successful Los Angeles advertising executive all-business in need of broadening her horizons.
"She catches her fiance (Patrick Baladi) cheating and decides to go on her honeymoon alone. When she arrives at his castle and soon-to-be golf course in Ireland, she meets the estate's manager (Greg Wise). He is firmly rooted in the importance of family and preservation of the countryside. He's just the one to get her to dig deeper and find true meaning in her life." Since exiting Desperate Housewives two years ago, Sheridan has been trying to find an equally eye-catching vehicle for herself. "I have at least one more series in me," she says. "I'd like to find something dark and edgy and provocative." Last year, Sheridan made a comedy pilot for CBS, playing an outrageous stage mother, but it wasn't picked up. Now she is penning a series for herself--"something unusual and unexpected," she says. She also voices a character in an upcoming animated film, Noah's Ark: The New Beginning. "I'd be open to singing, if the right thing came along," Sheridan says. During her engagement to Michael Bolton, she sang vocals on his version of Frank Sinatra's The Second Time Around.
Sheridan speaks fondly of her Desperate Housewives character. "Edie was outspoken, irreverent and often acerbic," she says. "But she was honest and had heart, which is why I think people embraced her and admired her audacity. She was one of a kind. "It's quite a feat to pull off a bad girl and have people relate to her. The key is to somehow find a way to make her likeable. I thoroughly enjoyed creating and playing Edie. I do miss her. She was a big part of my life for five years." To keep herself busy, Sheridan is designing her own lingerie line, which, she says, "Will be for all shapes and sizes." She has also spent the last three years designing and overseeing construction of a second home outside Los Angeles, where she keeps her four horses. "It's a cozy cross between an English and French chateau," she says. "It's extremely rewarding to have a vision, put it on paper and bring it to life. I drew up the plans for the landscaping and the pool. I've done everything. I spend a lot of time out there because of my bond with my horses and dog. And I ride almost every day." When she's acting, Sheridan stays in her small Hollywood Hills home. "I could never give it up because it's a piece of my childhood," she says. "And it's perfectly located to get to all the studios." She bought it in 1989, during her seven-year run on Knots Landing. Sheridan, who was born in England and spent her first decade there, didn't plan to become an actress. But she wound up in Hollywood when she was 10, after her actress mother, Sally Adams, decided to relocate there with her then-boyfriend, Kojak actor Telly Savalas. As a teenager, Sheridan turned to modeling. And that led to acting. She made her film debut in The Sure Thing and then landed her role on Knots Landing. "When I was young, I was a control freak," the actress says. "I was a great organizer. That was my sense of control. I liked having an orderly house, having everything clean and aesthetically pleasing. I found some sort of comfort in that. I've definitely worked on letting that go. Like my Honeymoon for One character, I try to leave myself open to see what life offers up." In the film, her character pulls back from marriage at the last minute. Sheridan herself has been married once — to actor Harry Hamlin for two years when she was in her 20s. After a lengthy relationship with Bolton, she began dating Steve Pate, whom she describes as "half-businessman, half-cowboy.
We've been together for the last couple of years. "Some people find safety in the institution of marriage or some sort of a further commitment. Others think that if you're in a very happy relationship, why mess with it? Marriage has never been something I've needed to have in my life. I've always been extremely independent." Her Honeymoon for One character is childless and blames it on her busy career. Sheridan's situation is similar. "I've been guilty of that," she admits. "I could say doing what I've wanted to do with my life could be looked at as being selfish. But I think it's a healthy selfish, because if you're really not ready to (have children), it's not the right thing to do. "That's not to say that I don't love children," she adds, "because I do. I'm around them because most of my friends have children. And I'm a big child myself." Sheridan's horses serve as her children. "I grew up in the English countryside and had a passion for horses at a very young age," she says. "I love grooming them, bathing them, riding them, training them, reprogramming their brains so that they trust and love you."
