The Chase
The cast and their characters
Nicholas Gleaves is Tom Bedford
Ìý
Nicholas introduces his character Tom as "Anna's husband and a vet. A very good vet. He's a family man and essentially very happy and settled."
Ìý
But three and a half years previously, Tom has his moment of madness. "He had a quickie with Fiona," admits Nick. "She's a veterinary nurse at The Chase and from that liaison a child was born and all of Tom's perfect, hard-working life hangs in the balance because if this secret is revealed it will ruin everything."
Ìý
Unfortunately for Tom, his infidelity was witnessed by his sister-in-law Sarah who hasn't been able to look him in the face since – especially as it happened while Anna was in hospital having just given birth to their third child.
Ìý
Nick admits: "He lost himself. In the organised chaos that is family life, Tom got lost. He forgot who he was. It's difficult to always make the right decisions and Tom was needy when his third child was born. He allowed a weakness to get the better of him and made one - albeit big - mistake.
Ìý
"But I do have sympathy for him. The more you know about people's lives the more you can understand and empathise with them."
Ìý
Nick has really enjoyed getting his teeth into another Kay Mellor character, having spent five series playing Rick Powell in Playing the Field.
Ìý
"I find Kay's writing addictive. She's incredibly good at exploring the lives of everyday people and each script is written so well it's a page turner.
Ìý
"Rick Powell and Tom Bedford are fantastic characters. In both Kay has taken someone who is wholly decent, caring, strong and forward thinking and just touched them with a weakness."
Ìý
And ,as an animal lover, Nick has delighted in being the vet.
Ìý
"I love animals. Working with them was never going to be the hard part of this job! We have a dog called Sweep. She's a border terrier and I have brought her up on set a couple of times. Once was the same day as the boa constrictor so she could have been lunch if we weren't careful!"
Ìý
Ìý
Michelle Holmes is Claudie Stevenson, then Williams (from the wedding in episode one)
Ìý
Gaynor describes Anna as "a warm family-orientated woman.
She's moralistic and the sort of person you'd like to have as your friend
because she'd never tell your secrets especially if they would hurt someone
else.
Ìý
"Claudie used to work in the post office," explains Michelle. "And
she met George line dancing in the local pub. He's the man of her dreams.
She's always known she would marry an older man who would be a bit like
a father figure and she's totally in love with him."
Ìý
However, George's daughters aren't so keen on their new mother-in-law, especially when they discover that she's encouraged her new husband to re-mortgage their house to fund their extended honeymoon. The
name 'gold-digger' hangs unspoken in the air around Chevin Chase.
Ìý
Michelle defends
Claudie: "She could have had £1m. She could have had the lot and waited until he'd popped it to take everything – house and practice. But she only took £200,000
and so she thinks that's fine. She wasn't greedy, just making the
best use of their resources.
Ìý
"Claudie comes from a difficult background. Her mother died and left behind a big family. Claudie's youngest sister couldn't cope and got into drugs and drinking and Claudie does her best to help her whenever she can."
Ìý
And it can't be easy living in a family home with daughters, brother-in-law and a variety of grandchildren. "Things just go over her head," smiles Michelle. "She's always very positive. When you're madly in love nothing else bothers you!"
Ìý
In seeking inspiration for her brassy, plain-speaking alter-ego, Michelle turned to Jordan. "Jordan is my inspiration although I think there's probably a bit of Chantelle too for jewellery and bangles.
Ìý
"I really wanted to keep Claudie soft – pink and fluffy.
Jordan's in her twenties and Claudie thinks she's still 25 although she's
closer to 40!
Ìý
"She reads OK magazine every week picking out jewellery
and she's has Hot Hair for her wedding – just
like Jordan did although Claudie's is blonde. And Claudie would love
Chantelle. She'd be riveted by her love of bangles and clothes."
Ìý
Michelle admits that she is drawn to reality tv stars. "I love Big Brother. Just love it. I tape it when I'm out. I'm genuinely fascinated by the psychology of it and watching people change. It's intriguing. The last Celebrity Big Brother was just amazing. But I don't think I'd ever be persuaded to go in the house myself!"
Ìý
 |
Heather Peace is Fiona JonesÌý
|
 |
|
Ìý
Heather Peace is Fiona Jones
Ìý
"On the surface Fiona is very pleasant and a bit of a laugh but underneath she's very damaged," explains Heather.
Ìý
"Throughout her childhood she has felt inferior to the two sisters and she now has a big chip on her shoulder. I don't think she's a bad person. She is manipulative but she doesn't do it purposely to hurt people – she
does it for her son.
Ìý
"She's a great character to play. In Kay's writing every character has her flaws and Fiona is self-obsessed, selfish and put upon but that's because her mother cleaned for the Williams family, Fiona was clothed in the sisters' hand-me-downs and they were thought of as the poor cousins.
Ìý
"But I like her. I feel I have an understanding of where she's at and I don't want to make her the baddie. By the end of the series she's in such a mess you could feel very sorry for her."
Ìý
Heather was delighted to be offered the role of Fiona as it's the first time in about 10 years that she won't be playing the action hero following her time on London's Burning and Ultimate Force.
Ìý
And to cap it all – she's an animal person.
Ìý
"I love them," she smiles. "I always had cats and now I've got Bungle too. I've worked with animals before on London's Burning but the last time was with a crocodile on Ultimate Force. We had two – a
real one and a rubber one.
Ìý
"After filming a night shoot, we finished at 3am and I was a bit delirious with tiredness and when I was confronted by the rubber one on my way off set I almost had a fit. I thought it had escaped! It frightened the life out of me."
Ìý
Printable version