L-word: That would be interesting to see after knowing you as Sam.

 

HP: Yes but it’s really good for me as an actress because I thought I’d only ever play straight roles because there’s not that many gay roles around. Actually, as I was saying the other day, I’ve been offered two other gay roles on TV and it’s like, “I’m not falling into that ‘I am gay’…I’m an actor and it’s called ‘pretend’.” I wasn’t really in love with Laura Fraser, do you know what I mean? So it’s great for me to be on prime time and playing straight. Female doctor who maybe gay, that would be good.

 

L-word: Is she one of the main characters or a side story?

 

HP: One of the main characters. There are quite a lot of characters in it. There are six main teachers and then there are the kids. I’ve gone and did nine one-hour episodes for the second half of the series. They do 20 episodes. They have asked me to sign for the whole of next year but I’ve hold back because I want to see what is happening with Lip Service, which is my main priority.

 

L-word: You tweeted a few very interesting photos from the set, like picture of a naked woman’s body in glitter or Bungles in disguise. Is it always so much fun while you on set? What else do you do between the takes while you are waiting?

 ©Heather Peace

HP: Well, this is a different type of show. With Lip Service if you are in, you are in and you are filming because there were only five main characters. These shows have a heck of a lot people in it so when you can do a scene in an ensemble setting and you have nothing to say but the scene will take four hours to film and of course, it makes you slightly crazy.

 

That was actually a particular scene, I think, some party scene and there was just glitter on the tables and I had nothing to say for four hours and therefore, I made a naked lady from the table glitter. I thought it was quite artistic and it actually took me a long time. Yeah, we do have a giggle. Set is quite a rough area and there’s not really much around and you certainly can’t get off set at any point so we just keep each other entertained really. I’ve got a brain that constantly takes over and it needs entertainment.