Inside the life of DI Ray star Parminder Nagra from famous ex to motherhood

Parminder Nagra returns as the title character for the second season of DI Ray on ITV.

DI Ray is back on ITV with Parminder Nagra as a detective inspector in a fictitious Birmingham-based police force. Although she shines in the lead role, the 49-year-old has a fascinating background as she had no formal training in acting.

Born in Leicester, she was approached by her former drama instructor after leaving school. He asked her to join the Leicester-based theatre company Haithizi Productions.

She was cast in the musical Nimai and ended up replacing the lead actress, who had dropped out. She was praised for her singing and acting abilities despite being a complete novice.

She decided not to go to university, instead focusing on her acting career, with her breakthrough film being Bend It Like Beckham in 2002. She would go through rigorous nine-hour-a-day workouts for the role.

The star has had two notable relationships over the years, the first being in 1996 with Irish actor Kieran Creggan.

The pair met on the set of the play Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards and they moved into a flat together in Kennington, South London.

They were in a relationship for five years before separating, and she went on to meet photographer James Stenson.

The pair married in 2009, after being in a relationship for seven years. Her co-stars from the series ER, Scott Grimes and John Stamos, performed at the wedding.

Her friend and ER co-star Maura Tierney even officiated the ceremony.

The couple had a son together, Kai David Singh Stenson, in May 2009 but they divorced in July 2013.

Her high-profile divorce, described as "bitter" in the press, saw her get to keep her California home, worth more than $700,000 as well as their UK house.

Parminder went on to star in the series Maternal, in which she played an NHS nurse struggling with a work-life balance as a new mum.

She said she and her co-stars were balancing their careers and being mums "in real time" while making the show.

She told Leicester Mercury: "[We were] making sure our kids were taken care of and making sure that we were still able to do our work, and then feeling guilty if we weren’t there."

The star added: "I like being at work, and that makes me a better mother, because I’m basically just in a better mood. Otherwise, where’s my identity gone?"

DI Ray airs on ITV on Sunday from 9pm