Actress Cate Blanchett had to hire a massive crane as she took delivery of a huge new bath at her seafront apartment in Brighton yesterday.

It took more than a dozen workmen almost an hour to winch the solid marble tub over her £1.3 million Regency apartment and through a back window.

Neighbours and curious onlookers gathered to watch the intricate operation. One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I'm surprised she has chosen marble for her bath as it's bound to be really cold.

"The tub was quite plain really, I would expect something more ornate. I don't know if I would want it in my bathroom."

The 34-year-old Australian star has a two-year-old son called Dashiell and is expecting her second child with screenwriter husband Andrew Upton.

Blanchett will next be seen on the big screen as elf queen Galadriel in the final part of the hugely successful Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

But next year she is due to appear alongside Bill Murray in The Life Marine, a part-animated comedy directed by Wes Anderson, who made the Royal Tenenbaums.

So while she might be the ultimate soap star as she relaxes in her new tub, it seems Blanchett has no intention of slipping from the big screen.