Amanda Redman's dream of a baby in her 50s ended with the menopause

PUBLISHED: 18:54 EST, 26 August 2012 | UPDATED: 18:54 EST, 26 August 2012

After the heartbreak of nine miscarriages and two ectopic pregnancies, many women would have given up hope of having a baby.

But Amanda Redman was so determined to add to her family that she refused to let anything stop her trying – until nature intervened.

The actress has revealed that it was only starting the menopause recently that forced her to admit defeat and finally abandon her dream of another child.

Miss Redman, who turned 55 this month, said: 'I would have had a baby at 52, 53, 54 if I could have. Most definitely.

Determination: Amanda Redman told Woman magazine (inset) that she kept trying for a child until recently

'But the fact that it is now not possible has helped me accept it. I tried until the very end.'

The star, whose husband Damian Schnabel is 15 years her junior, has a 25-year-old daughter called Emily from her previous marriage to actor Robert Glenister, but admitted she had kept hoping for another addition to the family until recently.

She added: 'It was only this year when my menopause started that I had to accept my window of opportunity had passed, but I feel more settled now that I've accepted it. There's nothing more I can do.

'It's too late now. Any chance has gone. Damian said a few years ago "I don't want you to keep trying", but I did. I just never gave up hope.'

It is not known whether Miss Redman had been trying to conceive naturally or with the help of fertility treatment.

The actress, who recently announced her departure from BBC detective series New Tricks, also described the impact the menopause has had on other areas of her life, including making her hair fall out.

She went on: 'I'd like to say something positive about it but it's tough. I'm going through it cold turkey.

'When I was filming New Tricks I'd get a hot flush in the middle of a scene and it's mortifying.

'I wish we were more open about the menopause – I've been in absolute bits at times. But Damian's never made me feel anything less than totally loved.' Miss Redman will celebrate her second wedding anniversary with mobile phone designer Mr Schnabel, 40, next week.

Amanda Redman and husband Damian Schnabel at The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2010 held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London

They met in 1999, but in 2003 Miss Redman left him for an 18-month fling with actor Adam Rayner, who is 20 years her junior. However, she and Mr Schnabel have been back together since 2006, and Miss Redman has called her husband 'the love of my life'.

In the interview with Woman magazine, she said: 'I went through miscarriage after miscarriage and in my 30s I divorced, which was really tough.

'I did enjoy my 40s but it was in my 50s that I married again – and I've found happiness like never before.'

Last year, Miss Redman told the Mail of her battle with infertility, saying: 'I always wanted children and assumed I'd have a huge family, but it just never happened.'

Following her miscarriages, she had a barrage of tests in a bid to have another baby, but specialists could not pinpoint what was wrong.

And while she admitted she had 'desperately' wanted a child with Mr Schnabel, she said he did not want her to suffer any more heartbreak 'because, as far as he's concerned, he has a daughter in Emily'.

She added: 'He brought her up from the age of ten – and doesn't in any way feel short-changed. And neither do I.'