SIXTY SECONDS
THE EX-EMMERDALE ACTRESS, 48, ON STRICTLY, MENTAL HEALTH AND HER NEW ROLE IN A UK THEATRE TOUR OF BAND OF GOLD
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Why did you decide to leave Emmerdale?
I wanted to do Band Of Gold and unfortunately I couldn’t do both. I was sad that I had to choose but I’d been in Emmerdale for seven years and felt ready to spread my wings.
It’s quite a gritty play, isn’t it?
It’s a crime drama that revolves around a group of sex workers who live and work in Bradford in the early ’90s. It pulls no punches – these women have to sell their bodies in order to feed and clothe themselves. I play Rose, who was played by Geraldine James in the original TV series. She runs ‘the Lane’ and doesn’t like it if somebody new comes on the patch. There’s a lot of camaraderie – they have each other’s backs, especially as there’s a murderer on the prowl, killing prostitutes. It’s current today – there are still people selling their bodies just to make ends meet so nothing has changed very much. It is gritty but there’s also plenty of humour.
Why was your mum Kay Mellor inspired to write it?
She was driving through Bradford with me and my sister. We were coming back from the theatre. We stopped at some traffic lights and this very young teenage girl bobbed down to look in the car. She was a prostitute and a similar age to me. It triggered something in my mum. She thought, ‘My teenagers are in the back seat and they’re going to be home soon, safe in their beds and fed and watered. Why has this young girl ended up on the streets like that?’ So I’ve been with Band Of Gold since its embryonic stages.
More than 15 million viewers watched it on television – is that pressure for you?
Obviously I want to do a great job, so
I go into any role feeling a slight amount of pressure, but the writing is so incredible that we’d have to go a long way to balls it up!
Was leaving Emmerdale a risk?
I left Coronation Street 20 years ago because I wanted to play other roles. My character, Judy Mallett, was killed off so that door is shut. My Emmerdale character, Megan Macey, left in a taxi so she can always come back. Who knows what will happen in the future?
You won the first series of Dancing On Ice. Would you like to do Strictly next year?
I would love to do Strictly. The whole reason I ended up doing Dancing On Ice was because I wanted to do Strictly! I’d been putting it out there and then this
The whole reason I ended up doing Dancing On Ice is because I wanted to do Strictly
ice-skating show came up. I was like, ‘What? Dancing? On ice? With Torvill and Dean?’ I’d never skated but it was an amazing experience. At one point Strictly didn’t want anyone who had been on Dancing On Ice but enough time has passed from me doing it now.
Do you still skate?
Oh God no! I’d be really scared to get back on the ice. I can’t believe I achieved what I did. I love to watch it but I don’t think I could do it any more. My skates are hanging up in the garage – they’re probably rusty!
You’ve said you chant at work. Are you a Buddhist, then?
Yes, it’s completely transformed me. I don’t need to take any sort of supplement for my mental health. I can suffer with depression and have in the past. That’s what brought me to Buddhism in the first place. For me, chanting is a natural Prozac. It makes me happy and if I’m happy I can help other people around me be happy.
How long have you been practising it?
things to relax and to be mindful but they’re not a faith. It started when I worked with the actress Gilly Tompkins. I thought she must use a really nice moisturiser because her face was always so shiny. She said, ‘No, darling, it’s not the moisturising, it’s the Buddhism!’
If you wanted an alternative career, what might it be?
I love animals so I’d probably have been a vet. I got the opportunity to play a vet in The Chase, which was fantastic. And I often think I’d love to be a criminal detective but that’s probably just because I’ve watched A Confession and The Capture!
Genius: Phoebe. Waller-Bridge.
Around 25 years. Beforehand I’d looked at a lot of self-help things. I did a reiki course, I used crystals and did meditation and yoga. I still do those
What’s on your bucket list?
I’d love to write and get my own work on telly or in the theatre. I’d also like to learn the guitar. I’ve tried a few times before but it really hurts your fingers!
What do you love and hate on TV?
I love Fleabag – Phoebe WallerBridge is a genius. What I don’t enjoy is Love Island. I know people love it, and my daughter does, but I don’t think it is right to show young people getting together and then dumping each other. There’s enough of that going on without glamorising it.
Faye stars in the UK tour of Kay Mellor’s Band Of Gold. For tickets, visit bandofgoldplay.com