Our lad's ABSOLUTly Fab

EVERY week without fail Helen Hagee sits down in front of her TV and watches Sex And The City from beginning to end.

It's not the type of show that appeals to most white-haired grandmothers of 89 and during the raunchier scenes Helen sometimes covers her eyes.

But she never misses an episode and she makes sure all her elderly female friends are tuning in too.

Why? Because loyal Helen is the grandmother of handsome Jason Lewis, who plays the golden-

haired waiter serving up sex on a plate to man-eating Samantha in the show's sixth, final and steamiest series.

The role of Jerrod Smith has turned the 32-year-old ex-model into one of the hottest names on television - and granny Helen is immensely proud of his success.

"But I wish he would keep his clothes on for a change," she laments. "I'm old-fashioned enough to think that there is more to life and a relationship than a good body.

"And taking his clothes off in front of millions of people is not really what I want for my grandson. He should flash his beautiful smile - not his body.

"As for those girls and their behaviour! They all seem very nice but there is far too much sex, particularly that Samantha.

"Well-brought-up women would never have behaved like that in my day, and they certainly wouldn't have talked about it so openly.

"I have to keep covering my eyes - it's all a bit much to watch all these goings-on at my age."

In the show Samantha, played by Kim Cattrall, 45, has turned her toyboy lover into the star of an Absolut vodka ad in which he poses with just a bottle of spirits to hide his modesty. The fictional campaign has proved so popular that fans turn up in real bars and order the same drink (see recipe on the right).

But even 6ft 1in Jason admits he sometimes wishes the producers would tone it down a bit - and he says the Absolut picture is the one he most worried about his gran seeing. Jason made his entrance (fully clothed) in the first episode of the final series. He plays a waiter at a raw food restaurant in Manhattan where the food is all but inedible but the place is packed with women competing to take him home. Samantha won.

Jason recalls opening his script for his third-ever scene to read the words: "They have sex, the greatest sex, all-night sex."

Since then, the relationship has been played out with wild role- playing and acrobatic lovemaking.

For inspiration, Jason and Kim studied a novelty-shop poster which mapped out 1,001 sexual positions. But he admits: "There are things Kim and I have done on the show that I've never done in real life. I've never done that 'chair' position thing. I mean, who does that?"

It's a long way from Jason's small-town roots in Los Alamitos, Southern California, where he grew up with dad Gregory, a Superior Court judge, mother Nancy, a nurse, and his two younger sisters.

Although granny Helen steels herself to watch every Sunday at 9pm when the show is shown in the US, Jason's younger sister Nicole refuses to watch because she can't bear to see her brother bare all.

Pictures of the young Jason - who has dated She's The One actress Maxine Bahns but is currently single - show a grinnng child with buck teeth. Helen recalls how he loved to read and she encouraged him as much as she could.

"He was fascinated by books, particularly those based on mythology," she says at her home in Long Beach, California. "He had such an imagination. He was one of the most curious children I've ever met. It was always, 'Grandma, how does this work? Why is it like this?

"He was a clever boy and did very well at school. It's the greatest of disappointments to me that he chose not to go to college. He had the brains to do whatever he wanted but he just didn't want to go. He had too many wild oats to sow..."

As a teenager, Jason was determined to see the world and worked for a plumber and as a waiter to earn the money to fulfil his dreams.

In 1993, aged 22 and with his buck teeth long gone, he headed to Paris to try his luck as a model. By the end of the year, he was on the catwalk for Guess, Tommy Hilfiger and Ray Ban sunglasses. Then in 1997 he landed his first major acting role in teen soap Beverly Hills 90210.

But then his career seemed to fizzle out and he took a long break.

"He felt he needed to take some time to himself," says Helen. "So he put his dogs - beautiful Rhodesian Ridgebacks called Knuckles and Beqa - into a car and went round America for a few months.

"It was the best thing he could have done. He kept his head high but looked after himself too."

Then came a few roles in forgettable films. And then Sex And The City came along, and Jason hasn't looked back. He has been voted Hottest Hunk of the Summer in a US magazine, but admits that he finds the attention overwhelming.

Working out at his local gym the other day, he had to fend off a persistent fan.

He says: "This woman was like, 'Wow, nice ass! Take your shirt off!'

"It's flattering, but I thought, go home! I'm not going to talk to you."

Samantha would take that reaction as a challenge.

THE HUNK COCKTAIL4 parts Absolut Vanilla, 1 part simple syrup, 1 part fresh lime juice and splash of pineapple juice (create syrup by mixing equal parts water and sugar, stand mixture until dissolved). Pour Absolut over ice in shaker. Add syrup, fresh lime juice and splash of pineapple juice. Shake or stir well. Strain and serve in chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lime.

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