BEFORE the top-rating The Nanny ends, Lauren Lane is confident that the simmering relationship between bitchy CC Babcock and Niles the butler will boil.
"We will be tying up lots of loose ends, and there has been this constant sexual tension thing between them," she says. Well, you could have fooled me.
As good looking a woman as CC is, she has displayed nothing but an ugly soul during six seasons. And Niles has always been the first to punish her sniping ways.
The magic of this bitchy double act has always been the chemistry between the two actors, Lane and Daniel Davis.
They had often worked together in theatre before being cast in The Nanny, and it turned out to be a dream pairing. "It's so easy for both of us, plus we have great writers on the show," she says.
Quality repartee has always been one of the major strengths of The Nanny, but the success of its application is only as good as the talent and timing of the actors.
Surprisingly, Lane had done little comedy before winning the CC role. Her extensive acting experience began in regional theatre where she was noticed by TV executives and soon found guest roles in such major TV series as Hunter, LA Law, Crime and Punishment and South Beach.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, who have come out of theatre and are eager to return periodically, Lane has been more than happy with her lot in a regular sitcom.
"I do love the regular working schedule. It gives me regular days, regular hours. We only shoot one day a week," she says.
That schedule allows her to commute from LA to her home in New Mexico, where her husband, David Wilkins, runs a company supplying natural foods.
"I love living in New Mexico - my heart is in the south-west." She grew up in neighbouring Texas and although she spent only her first few years in Oklahoma City, she says the landscape "still has a great pull on my heart".
The other major reason for Lane to be home is her daughter, Kate, 1, who she wants to bring up as a cowgirl, like herself.
"It's probably the reason I don't get recognised in public so much," she says. "CC is conservative, while I'm like the cowgirl in jeans, wearing no make-up."
While she enjoys the public anonymity, Lane is going to miss CC. "It is really hard to play a fall guy for six years, but there's no doubt I will miss her.