WHEN the TV channel FX started showing dark drama Dexter (FX, Tuesdays, 10pm) it became one of the most-talked about shows.

Thanks to its repeat on ITV2 in the spring, even more people are hooked on the US hit.

For those not in the know, the main character works for Miami Police but is also a serial killer. He bumps off criminals who have escaped justice.

The second series started on FX recently and British actress Jaime Murray is joining the cast from the third episode, making her first appearance on July 22.

The former Hustle star says: "When I got the part in Dexter, I was caught off guard a little. My agent kept on saying `You don't sound very excited Jaime, it's an amazing show.' But I hadn't seen it.

"I'd just come from the UK and it hadn't been shown over here at that point," she continues.

Before Jaime's first read-through, she asked for a couple of episodes on DVD. She was soon hooked and ended up sitting down to all 13 shows in the first series.

Spooked

"In the end, I think the cast were all a bit spooked out by me," she adds, laughing.

"They'd done the first series over a year previously to that, but I'd just watched 13 episodes over a weekend. They'd refer to stuff from the first series, and I'd say, `No, what he actually said was...'"

Jaime plays Lila, a lady who quickly starts to turn Dexter's world upside down.

"She's an artist and a recovering crystal meth addict with a history of pyromania and kleptomania. Lila definitely sees something in Dexter straight away and is drawn to it. She's like a moth to the flame.

"Lila's quite out there," adds the 29-year-old actress.

"She's brash, and bold and has no boundaries. She's the polar opposite of Dexter.

"He's very bound up, and repressed, especially now after the events at the end of the last series. He's pretending to be something he's not."

Dexter's girlfriend-of-sorts is Rita; a safe, if sometimes dull single mother who offers him the perfect alibi while happy with the non-physical nature of their relationship. His arrangement with Rita is thrown into jeopardy with Lila's arrival as the pair embark on a passionate fling.

Gifted

Jaime has nothing but praise for her Dexter co-star Michael C. Hall, who has won Emmy nominations for this part, and for playing David Fisher in Six Feet Under.

"He's an incredibly gifted actor, and he's very serious about the work and committed too," she gushes.

"It's great as an actor to look up and see that truth in the eyes opposite you. It doesn't matter that you can hear cameras buzzing, or that there's a microphone boom over your head. You can zone in on the eyes, and forget about all that."

Jaime, the daughter of ex-EastEnder Billy `Johnny Allen' Murray, was born in Essex, and made her first TV appearances in shows such as Casualty and The Bill.

Her big break came when she was cast as Stacie Monroe in con-artist drama Hustle, although she has now left the series, which will return later this year. She says: "I'm looking forward to being able to watch Hustle without me in it. I never watch anything I'm in, so haven't seen it before."

Her role in Dexter owes a little to Hustle, however.

While in America filming two special episodes of the BBC drama, she met TV producers in the States who thought she could do well across the Atlantic.

Now dividing her time between work in London and LA, Jaime is happy to have made the move, and loves living on the West Coast.

Bigger

"LA's not somewhere to go on holiday, but it's a fantastic place to work.

"I can travel 15 minutes down the road and I'll be on the film lot, and instead of filming with icicles on my nose, the sun will be shining.

"The budgets are slightly bigger, and the Winnebagos are slightly bigger. I like that side of it all, definitely."

Jaime's name has been linked with various film projects, and while she'd welcome such work, the actress, who has an LA boyfriend, says she is keen just to be involved in quality productions, wherever they appear.

The main thing for her is that the role is right, and given her stunning looks, not a part where she merely has to turn up and look pretty.

She says: "Female parts can often be secondary in films, you know, the girlfriend rather than the main character, and if that is shown over 90 minutes it can be very limiting for an actress.

"TV can be a great medium for actresses because you get more complex characters, and then that influences film, it's evolving all the time.

"Studios are realising that male audiences actually enjoy watching strong female characters. It's definitely an interesting time for women."

Click here to read Ian Wylie's TV blog.