Debra Stephenson is best known for her parts as Psycho Shell in Bad Girls and Frankie from Coronation Street but what is she up to now? We join Debra for a chat on the soaps and all things TV!
Hi Debra what have you been up to recently?
I've had a bit of a strange week actually, I've just got back from America and I just got out of jail! I've just been shooting a documentary in America for Virgin Television. They've commissioned a series of eight documentaries about prisons around the world and I was asked to do one of them because of Bad Girls. So I went over to California to a jail, not a prison, there's a slight difference I learnt! It's an immersive style documentary so I ended up really getting involved, wearing the uniform, meeting the inmates and I even spent a night there so it's been a real eye opener! We went through the process of jail as though I had been naughty, all the actions from start to finish, through the intake procedure and just explored the different kind of aspects of life in jail in this womens correctional facility.
Was it what you expected?
It was better in some ways and worse in other ways! I wasn't quite sure what to expect, all my preconceived ideas were from Bad Girls and that's obviously why they asked me to do it. There was a kind of link because I had done a drama about womens prisons but it was also because they wanted to get an actress to present the documentary because they wanted it to be immersive rather than someone who could distance themselves from it. Rather than look at it in a journalistic way and report on it they wanted me to actually experience it and then portray what that experience was like. Obviously if your an actress your quite empathetic as a person so it was quite interesting for me to be able to meet the inmates and see what it was like for them. So that's what I've been doing! And then I've come back to carry on working on a comedy idea which unfortunately I can't say too much about, sometimes these things take ages to develop but I'm currently part of a comedy idea that's in the process of development so we'll just have to see what happens with that! I can't speak to soon! I'm chipping away and it's nice to get back to a comedy project!
Can you tell us a bit about the Pot Noodle campaign?
Well I got involved with this because it's all about soaps and obviously having been in Coronation Street I'm quite in to my soaps as are the rest of Britain by the sounds of it! 39% admit that watching their favourite soap means more to them than voting in important elections. We currently spend a whopping three hours and fifteen minutes a week watching soaps! I was surprised, considering that's just an average. That's quite a lot of time really, if you think about how much time you probably spend at work, there's not that much time left in the evening really. I tend not to get too much time then either because I've got my kids and bathing them, reading them stories and all the rest of it so soaps have really gone out the window but I've dipped in and out of them all my life, as other people have, and Corrie was always my favourite so I was quite lucky being in that.
Did you enjoy your time on the show?
Yeah I really did, it was really good fun. It was probably just a little too full on, for me, having young children as well but I did really enjoy it.
How did you feel when you found out you'd got the part?
Do you know it feels like that long ago I can't really remember! I think I just felt excited but also, not anxious exactly but just waiting to see what it was like on that first day! The first day was the best day really, meeting everyone, walking down the street and thinking, "Wow I live down here now! This is my street!" Obviously not really I didn't think it was real!
What was your favourite storyline on the show?
It's really funny because it's all really a blur now! It all kind of rolled into one in the end. I guess I have to say the stuff with Jamie. It was weird but in a way it was a bad storyline, not bad but wicked, but it was the most fun!
Were you surprised at how seriously people take it? Did people ever think you were actually Frankie?!
I think people know it's not you but they assume you're very very similar.
Would you ever go back?
I don't think so. I tend not to go back. It's probably more likely I'd go back to Bad Girls because I can't seem to shake the jail thing off altogether! As long as I don't have to go to a real jail I don't mind I won't be putting a foot wrong after what I've seen I'm telling you! But I don't think they're making nay more Bad Girls.
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!
Every celebrity we interview we ask them to come up with a question for our next interview and Ben from Ivy Rise wants to know what make of phone do you have?
At the moment I've got a Nokia N95 but in the post, and it's only because I was away when they delivered it, is a new iPhone.
Can you think of a question for our next interview?
What is your favourite childhood memory. I've been asked that and it's a really nice thing to think about!
FemaleFirst - Jessica WatsonDebra Stephenson is best known for her parts as Psycho Shell in Bad Girls and Frankie from Coronation Street but what is she up to now? We join Debra for a chat on the soaps and all things TV!
Hi Debra what have you been up to recently?
I've had a bit of a strange week actually, I've just got back from America and I just got out of jail! I've just been shooting a documentary in America for Virgin Television. They've commissioned a series of eight documentaries about prisons around the world and I was asked to do one of them because of Bad Girls. So I went over to California to a jail, not a prison, there's a slight difference I learnt! It's an immersive style documentary so I ended up really getting involved, wearing the uniform, meeting the inmates and I even spent a night there so it's been a real eye opener! We went through the process of jail as though I had been naughty, all the actions from start to finish, through the intake procedure and just explored the different kind of aspects of life in jail in this womens correctional facility.
Was it what you expected?
It was better in some ways and worse in other ways! I wasn't quite sure what to expect, all my preconceived ideas were from Bad Girls and that's obviously why they asked me to do it. There was a kind of link because I had done a drama about womens prisons but it was also because they wanted to get an actress to present the documentary because they wanted it to be immersive rather than someone who could distance themselves from it. Rather than look at it in a journalistic way and report on it they wanted me to actually experience it and then portray what that experience was like. Obviously if your an actress your quite empathetic as a person so it was quite interesting for me to be able to meet the inmates and see what it was like for them. So that's what I've been doing! And then I've come back to carry on working on a comedy idea which unfortunately I can't say too much about, sometimes these things take ages to develop but I'm currently part of a comedy idea that's in the process of development so we'll just have to see what happens with that! I can't speak to soon! I'm chipping away and it's nice to get back to a comedy project!
Can you tell us a bit about the Pot Noodle campaign?
Well I got involved with this because it's all about soaps and obviously having been in Coronation Street I'm quite in to my soaps as are the rest of Britain by the sounds of it! 39% admit that watching their favourite soap means more to them than voting in important elections. We currently spend a whopping three hours and fifteen minutes a week watching soaps! I was surprised, considering that's just an average. That's quite a lot of time really, if you think about how much time you probably spend at work, there's not that much time left in the evening really. I tend not to get too much time then either because I've got my kids and bathing them, reading them stories and all the rest of it so soaps have really gone out the window but I've dipped in and out of them all my life, as other people have, and Corrie was always my favourite so I was quite lucky being in that.
Did you enjoy your time on the show?
Yeah I really did, it was really good fun. It was probably just a little too full on, for me, having young children as well but I did really enjoy it.
How did you feel when you found out you'd got the part?
Do you know it feels like that long ago I can't really remember! I think I just felt excited but also, not anxious exactly but just waiting to see what it was like on that first day! The first day was the best day really, meeting everyone, walking down the street and thinking, "Wow I live down here now! This is my street!" Obviously not really I didn't think it was real!
What was your favourite storyline on the show?
It's really funny because it's all really a blur now! It all kind of rolled into one in the end. I guess I have to say the stuff with Jamie. It was weird but in a way it was a bad storyline, not bad but wicked, but it was the most fun!
Were you surprised at how seriously people take it? Did people ever think you were actually Frankie?!
I think people know it's not you but they assume you're very very similar.
Would you ever go back?
I don't think so. I tend not to go back. It's probably more likely I'd go back to Bad Girls because I can't seem to shake the jail thing off altogether! As long as I don't have to go to a real jail I don't mind I won't be putting a foot wrong after what I've seen I'm telling you! But I don't think they're making nay more Bad Girls.