Helen Fraser
Plays
Sylvia Hollamby
Helen is “thrilled that in this series the writing shows even more sides to Sylvia. She is evil and no-one could be more sadistic than Sylvia but they are also showing the comic side, which, for me is lovely – so at least the audience might not hate me completely”.
Helen was very much cast against type when offered the role of Sylvia. “I had just done Coronation Street, which at the time was being produced by Brian and written by Maureen (Bad Girls producer and series deviser). I had played Magenta, a hypno-therapist, who was helping Jack Duckworth to give up smoking. Three months later they asked me to play this Prison Officer from hell!”
“The prisoners call Sylvia ‘Bodybag’ and she’s forever saying ‘I’ll put you on report’. She is the first baddy I’ve ever played, which is fun, as I’ve usually been cast as the house-wife or the girl next door before. I’m very fond of her but I don’t think I’ve ever played anyone quite so un-attractive. I have to put on my heavy shoes which help me to find my Sylvia character!”
Helen laughs “There is a lot of Sylvia in me - the impatience and the bad temper, and I’m getting more and more like her every day! Every now and then Sylvia gives this world weary sigh and I’m getting very good at that at home now too!”
“The whole team on Bad Girls is great and as I’m the oldest member of the cast they all call me ‘The Dame’!”
Helen Fraser went to stage school as a boarder at the tender age of 9 (“I had one of those mothers”!) and has never looked back. Her television career reads like a who’s who of comedy with plays by Alan Bennett, seven series of Dick Emery and The Two Ronnies to name but a few. She has lived in the Suffolk countryside for 30 years, with her husband Peter (an Oscar winning sound recordist). They met on the film set of Billy Liar when Helen was playing opposite Tom Courtney. Living in a little village, where “it is five miles for a loaf of bread!”, Helen loves to garden and cook and luckily has a husband who loves desserts!