HOW IS YOUR CHARACTER DEVELOPING THIS SERIES?
It’s been really good. She’s really started to open out. She was just led by the others in the last series, but she’s come into her own now. She’s broken away from Maxi and Al, she’s moved cells with the other girls. It’s great because it’s really given me the chance to put some of what I hope are my skills into action. You’re starting to see the type of person she is. She’s not just this thug, she’s got a conscience and sense of right and wrong, although she hasn’t really shown it until now. She’s always been told that she’s useless and that she’s thick but now she’s away from the people that have told her that, she’s starting to make decisions for herself.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING IN BAD GIRLS?
Just the amount of scope there is to really test yourself in your job. That’s the best thing for me. Being given the opportunity to play so many emotions. It’s so amazing for the programme – it’s an ideal environment for all that sadness, and anger, and resentment, regret for what you’ve done, the missing other people… all those women, all that energy.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?
Most of the time she fails or she makes a fool of herself, but she always gets up and has another go. She’s quite good at picking herself up and brushing herself off. She’s so resilient. Almost in a child-like way really. I think that’s a lovely quality about her. She’s like a child in the sense that something will happen to her but as soon as someone shows her a chocolate bar or something she’s all right again.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?
When she lets people push her around. Particularly Maxi – I mean, she’s learning to deal with it now, but knowing how they were to her in the beginning, that’s what I dislike about her most. She let that go on for so long. She’s such a nice person really underneath it all, and I hope that you can see that in the way I play her.

DO YOU LIKE THE COSTUMES THAT YOUR CHARACTER WEARS? WOULD YOU WEAR THEM OUT?
NO!! I like them because they are her, and it’s good for me because they are so removed from what I wear in real life, so when I put them on I feel even more like her. Instead of just changing my clothes, it’s like I step into her clothes. At least they’re really comfy!

HOW DO PEOPLE RE-ACT TO YOU ON THE STREET?
I am recognised now. I’ve had a couple of people come up to me and say ‘Why do you let them push you around like that? You’ve got to fight back!’ So many people like the show.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? ANY TRAITS THAT YOU SHARE?
I’m a bit of a pushover as well in real life! I hope I’m not as dozy as Tina, and not as clumsy. And a little bit of a better dress sense.

WHAT SCENE HAVE YOU MOST ENJOYED OR HATED FILMING SO FAR?
The scene I most enjoyed was the scene with Linda (Henry) right at the beginning, when Tina has a big confrontation with Yvonne - just purely for the experience. I also enjoyed falling over this series. I do a big thing where I slip over in the canteen and I go one way and my dinner goes the other way, and that was a lot of fun to do. There were three takes, but I never had to be cleaned up. It never went on me, it went on everyone else. There was one take where I threw the tray so high that I’d fallen and got back up before it landed…

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW EXTERIOR?
It’s brilliant. It’s really good, I was really surprised, it looks so real. The garden’s really nice… it’s really odd to think that you drive round the back of all those buildings and there it is.

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREETIME?
I cook, I read…. What else? I go home to my mum’s a lot. I don’t like swimming or sports. I really like cooking, a lot.

HOW WOULD YOU GET ON WITH YOUR CHARACTER IF YOU MET THEM IN REAL LIFE?
We’d be friends. I’d look after her, I’m that sort of person. I can’t bear to see someone who’s an underdog… I’d be going ‘Why don’t you come along with us…’ So I know I’d be friends with her. I think she’d make me laugh, and then she’d get really defensive, and then I’d have to explain that I was just doing it because I liked her.