James had chosen the diamond ring but brought a few for Jane to choose from, not saying which one he liked best – and she chose the same one.

“It is really beautiful, with a big round diamond with square cut diamond steps going up on either side,” she reveals.

“We didn't really know each other at all when James first asked me to marry him, but I think by last Christmas we were pretty certain that we wanted to stay together for the rest of our lives.”

“Yes,” interrupts James, “it was the first time in my life that I had ever felt that way and I had no doubt in my mind that everything about Jane and me was right.”

It also helped that the whole of Jane's family, including her mother Mieke, liked him immediately and welcomed him into the family.

“Mieke is a very warm and wonderful woman, with a great sense of humour, and she looked me straight in the eye as if to say: “Don't hurt my daughter,” James recalls. “And I never will.”

“One of the things that tremendously attracted me to Jane – apart from the fact that she's obviously a beautiful girl and I loved her honesty and spirituality – was her kids.

“I love children, and when I met them it was a nice family unit and I liked the whole group.”

Jane's children Katie, 11, and Sean, 7, from her marriage to David Flynn, and Flynn's daughter Jennifer, 13, have also taken to James in a big way and look up to James's 15 year-old son Kalen as a role model. “He's the cool older brother,” laughs James.

“Something Katie did really touched me,” he admits, serious for a moment.

“She was applying for a school here in LA and had to write an essay. She called it ‘James' and wrote that 1991 was a difficult year because her mummy and daddy divorced and both her grandfathers died.

“The she wrote that a man came into her mother's life thereafter and she talked about me and how much I loved Jane, how happy I made her and how I really got along with her father. It really summed up how we all feel about each other and was very touching.”

Friends of the couple have remarked how their relationship has not only improved their personal well-being but also the quality of their work.

They have made two films together, James has directed four episodes of Jane's series and there are more to come.

“We are starting our own company to produce and direct movies and so we'll have work and our family in common,” James says proudly.

“What's really nice is that both of us have professional lives in which good things happen to us at the same time,” adds Jane.

“We know we work well together as a team and we love working together. We do try to be cool about our relationship on the set, thought,” she says. “But I tend to call him ‘honey', so now the crew tease him. If they want the director on the set they say: ‘Can you tell Honey the shot is ready?'” she says laughing.

Jane and James did not have an engagement party but they have been very busy inviting their friends to their wedding.

The whole family is expected to watch the couple wed at a friend's house later this month in the middle of their shooting schedule for Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman.

“It will be a big wedding and lots of friends and relations are flying over from England to share our special day,” Jane reveals.

“James will be directing an episode that week so we'll be working together. We'll have Sunday off and then it's straight back to work.”

“Yes,” he adds. “We'll start work on that episode single and end up married.”

It will be James's third marriage, and Jane's fourth, but neither of them will be dwelling on the past. They are only interested in their future together.

“I would have said that the chances of marrying again were minimal, because I was so shell-shocked and wary, having been married before,” says Jane candidly. “But then I met someone who I share all my passions with and I knew he was the right guy from very early on.”

“We just want to be together and happy,” says James simply.

“I don't want the business to ruin our lives, or the outside world to interfere. We just want to be a regular little family going through life's experiences.”

INTERVIEW : MELANIE HART.PHOTOS: PETER KREDENSER. HELLO MAGAZINE: ISSUE 253. MAY 15 TH 1993