One of the stars of the US’s top-rated drama CSI speaks out…

AS SARA SIDLE, one of the crack forensics experts in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Jorja Fox gets to wade through human body parts to solve murders. The show has two spin-off series, and is set to return for its seventh year in the US in September.

Did you think the show would become such a huge hit?

When I read the script for CSI, it was like a trance I fell under. I became completely mesmerized by the idea of it but I didn’t think it was going to be successful. It was about death and Americans are kind of weird about death. But I thought it was so interesting because it was a secret world that people hadn’t got the chance to see very well. The bad thing about it, I think, is a lot of people expect their stolen wallets and stuff to be found in about 42 minutes and they get really irritated with the police when they don’t.

You were in the bizzare position of being sacked and then suddenly rehired two season ago…

When i was fired for a few hours I thought it was kind of a joke but after I had been fired for about four or five days, I started accepting that maybe I really had been fired. Then I was invited back. I think I feel a little bit less safe about anything to do with that show but that’s probably a good thing because change is inevitable. It left a strange situation in which half the cast was working with a raise and half the cast was not. And that’s not necessarily good for anybody.

Billy Petersen has spoken out against the “CSI” spin offs, what do you think?

I would have wished that there weren’t any spin offs of CSI. But I think that all the shows have been able to sort of find their own legs. Emily Proctor from CSI: Miami is a friend of mind so I was really happy for her. She was on The West Wing at the same time as me so she did call me before she took the role and said, “What do you think?”.

You’re from New York, how well do you think “CSI: New York” is portraying the city?

I think that they’re doing a beautiful job showing the city. I think visually the show is stunning and there’s sort of a blue dark grayness that I think is very appropriate for New York. Since 9/11 New York’s economy has been struggling so I’m glad they chose to set it there, I’m all for bringing business to New York.

Would you continue with “CSI”?

I love my job. I’ve finished my tenth consecutive year on network television in the States and that’s a really, really good run for anybody. I have dreams but I’ll stay with the show and even if it goes away I’ve been very lucky.

Do the special effects make you squeamish at all?

I think the special effects guys try to gross me out. There was one scene this year where Greg and Sara found liquefied bodies in a car and he gets a gob of one of them on his face. I had to go out of the room.

Do you think Sara and Grissom will ever get together?

Their storyline is not over, it will get revisited. Because I’m a romantic at heart I would like to see something.