I Have No Life When I'm Playing Havers
Sunday Mail, 29 February 2004
By Steve Hendry
Scots star Sharon Small admits she is slightly hungover but has an excuse. The 36-year-old from Fife is treading the boards in a West End production of When Harry Met Sally alongside Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Alyson Hannigan and former Beverly Hills 90210 heartthrob Luke Perry and has been showing them the lights of London.
She said: 'We've been up against it since day one because we've had such a hectic rehearsal schedule, then we were doing previews and rehearsing. It's only now we've had the chance to go out and play a bit. 'The show has had mixed reviews so far but I love doing it. It's been good fun.'
Sharon, famous for roles in TV dramas Sunburn, Glasgow Kiss and hit film About A Boy with Hugh Grant, is back on our screens on Thursday in the new series of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, playing Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. And while Sharon usually dresses down to play the aristocratic Lynley's slightly shambolic sidekick, Havers is now prim, proper and upset at being demoted and put back in uniform.
Sharon said: 'I shot someone with a flare gun at the end of the last series so start this one back in uniform although it's not long before I'm back in plain clothes and looking my worst.
'Havers's journey through the series is whether she wants to stay in the force and her relationship with Lynley. It's different now because he's married and although they have never had a relationship, Havers is still the other woman in his life. It creates a degree of sexual chemistry, friction and jealousy.'
Sharon enjoys a firm friendship off screen with co-star Nathaniel Parker, who plays Lynley, and is content to continue in the role of Havers.
She said: 'I've enjoyed making this series more than any of the others. I've grown to love it more than at the beginning because I wasn't a natural lover of crime dramas.
'For six months you have no life but it pays well and we have some great people on the show both in front and behind the cameras so it's a great experience.'
After Lynley and her theatre run Sharon is looking forward to the release of Scots film Dear Frankie, in which she stars with Gerard Butler and Emily Mortimer.
She said: 'I get to be sexy, Scottish and fun. It's pretty different from Havers. She can barely raise a smile.'
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