'Times Have Changed': Martine McCutcheon Addresses Love Actually Scenes That Didn't Age Well

Love Actually star Martine McCutcheon has admitted she agrees there are parts of the festive rom-com that haven’t aged particularly well.

Martine played Natalie in the 2003 film, which has gone on to be hailed by many as a festive classic in the years since.

However, more recently, Love Actually has come under scrutiny from some critics who have pointed out some its more problematic aspects.

Asked about these in a 2022 interview with Metro, the former EastEnders star said: “I mean obviously it was 20 years ago it was made, and if [Richard Curtis] were to make it now so much has changed, so much is better.”

She continued: “There’s a lot of things that happen in it that aren’t PC, that aren’t perfect, that aren’t something you should want ideally. But they are real human emotions, and human beings aren’t always perfect.

“And there’s something about Natalie’s vulnerability, and I think Richard wanted a character who didn’t realise what she had. She didn’t realise that actually it was her boyfriend who was the idiot and there was nothing wrong with her at all, she was lovely as she was.

“The fact she was so open to the most powerful man in the country about her little vulnerability about herself was a very human thing. I think that’s part of what makes it human, and the fact it’s very real.

“Because, sadly, women are hard on themselves, and we’re hard on each other, still. The main comments are from Natalie herself and from another woman in that film.”

Martine added: “Definitely times have changed, things have got better, but I think some of those things about being imperfect are also what makes you go, ‘Aw, I can’t believe she feels like that, I felt like that’.”

In 2017, many members of the Love Actually cast came together for a short follow-up in honour of Red Nose Day, which caught up with their characters over a decade later.

Five years later, some of its stars also took part in a reunion special, reflecting on making the film and sharing their memories from set.