Debra Stephenson gets soapy (page 2)

8 October 2008

When you were in Bad Girls, your character Shell was a bit of a psychopath, what was it like playing her?

It was amazing because there was so much to do! She was so naughty she just had brilliant lines, really fantastic, I got to say some really wicked things! And at the same time I got to play the whole range of emotions, there was so many levels to her as a character - that was a real treat as an actress and I got to do really fabulous things like run off to Spain! We filmed in Spain, lounging around on a yacht and jumping of scaffolding to boxes, doing stunts. That was one of the best things, it was always a laugh we always had such fun with it! Definitely the best part I've ever played, I think I was very lucky to get a part like that that you could to do so much with.

As well as acting you have been a comedy performer, how does that compare to acting?

It is a completely different thing really. I went into a soap that had a kind of comedy element in it, out of all of the soaps its probably the least depressing...well not least depressing but not as depressing as some of them can be...not mentioning any names!

Eastenders?

Yeah! But it had an element of comedy but my storylines ended up quite dark I think in the end and similarly with Bad Girls, it was very funny at times and naughty but in a funny way! We had some silly things we did, like when I was pregnant and I had to wear that ridiculous S and M costume and get caught in the kissing gate!I seem to remember there was something horrible attached to me but we won't go into any details - it was made of papier mache! There was always comical aspects of everything I've done, Playing The Field again, I played a comical character even though it was a drama - I like the light and shade. But I think when you've done quite a lot of dramatic stuff it's lovely to do some comedy, that's really where my heart's set, doing either musical or comedy, and that's what I'm working on at the moment is a comedy project. I like to keep things moving, when I say moving I mean different, I like to keep things changing in my life all the time so sometimes it might be drama, sometimes it might be drama, at some point I might get the chance to do something musical. I like doing things that my children would like as well. At the moment Max has grown up and he's starting to like things like You've Been Framed and X Factor, although he's getting a bit bored of X Factor now because it's all getting a bit serious! He liked it when it was all the funny ones! We play this funny game where we come up with really great auditions for X Factor, when I say great I mean really silly! The silliest auditions you can think of!

You were the singer in Rhythm Quest too, and won celebrity stars in their eyes so what do you prefer, acting, singing or comedy?

I wouldn't really want to pick, I could never choose! You could mix them all up, I reckon that's why I've always wanted to do a musical. If I could do a sort of comical musical that would be everything! Or something like Chicago when I could be in jail as well! Be absolutely perfect for me!