“I’ve always thought of myself as a character actress, and I like to play all types. There is always a danger of being typecast in this business, but I have to say I have been fortunate. I’ve never played West Country before, although my family actually come from Bristol. This was a new adventure, so that was a big attraction. I had two favourite scenes: one quite touching moment with Narinder, and also some nice comedy stuff with Johnny Briggs, which showed the diversity of the character. Those two extremes showed what lay within Ivy, I thought, and gave me a bit of scope.
“I have never come across a producer quite like Jonathan Pope fortunately - I daresay I have just been lucky though. Certainly the writers’ dialogue and the casting jokes are going to be popular in the industry because people can recognise all that.
“It’s very rare that you are in at the start of a series. I’ve done lots of series that are ongoing and I’ve come in and created a new character, but everybody has been there from the beginning in this one. It’s the birth of something - that is tremendous and it’s a privilege to be a part of it. “
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