Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Plays
Crystal Gordon
“Bible bashing, guitar strumming – a real good bad girl” is Sharon’s immediate response when asked to describe her character Crystal! “She’s got a very good heart even though she has a tough exterior. No tolerance for drugs at all. She’s got that whole solidarity thing going on”.
“She was a loner when she started off, but she’s come out of herself in this series”. Not least of all because Crystal has a love interest in Josh (Nathan Constance from Sky TV’s Dream Team). “Her having any kind of love interest was a surprise for me to play, because of her deep religious beliefs. But it’s absolutely great to play opposite Nathan – he’s a very good looking guy!”
“Bad Girls has been great as it has really developed skills for me. It’s really nice where you can see a real character coming through, with a good story-line. Up to now I’ve always played parts of prostitutes and drug dealers, where I get to pout a lot and go home, so it’s really nice that I can cry, I can smile, I can laugh and be angry as Crystal”.
“Crystal is in HMP Larkhall for shop-lifting and is a real kleptomaniac. Her excuse is that she had no choice at the time, but I think later on we’ll see she has a major problem with nicking things!”
Jokingly Sharon talks about Crystal’s various hairstyles, “I have a head wrap when I’m in trouble or someone’s died or I have a church scene. But for black hair, I would imagine it is quite difficult to keep it styled in prison. I reckon that she maintains it herself or gets one of the girls to help, but it takes so long, anything from 4 to 10 hours to braid – but I guess that Crystal has time on her hands inside!”
“Like me, Crystal is from East London with Trinidad and Tobago parentage. My mum’s an extremely religious woman. It’s been nice to relate my character to her, which has helped in the things that Crystal says and does. I’m not actually religious, which my mum’s very cool about”.
“I’ve had such a good time working with the whole Bad Girls team and learnt so much. This series, we really have come together and had a laugh - we’re all just bad girls together!”
Sharon Duncan-Brewster is the only actress in a family of doctors and nurses. She lives with her parents in Hackney but is currently in the process of buying her first home. Sharon finishes filming Bad Girls at the end of March and is due in New York on the 4th April to open off-Broadway, in the critically acclaimed play Yard Gal, which she premiered at the Royal Court in 1998.