My Mum Will Be So Glad I've Scrubbed Up At Last;
Stunning star tells of joy at swapping scruff for fairy glam
Sunday Mail, 13 November 2005
By Steve Hendry
SCOTS star Sharon Small yesterday revealed her mum's pride at her new TV roles - as a sexy seductress. The 37-year-old is going glam after years of playing dowdy, down-at-heel Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers in hit drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Sharon has won the role of the beautiful and alluring fairy queen Titania in BBC1's 21st-century update of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which will be aired in two weeks. And in the New Year, she will play a love interest of Inspector Rebus in ITV's latest adaptation of Ian Rankin's best-selling books, which star Ken Stott as the grizzled Edinburgh detective.
Sharon said: "My mother will be delighted. She will be able to say: 'This is my daughter, she's on TV and hasn't she scrubbed up well?' She thinks I've been going to the dogs as Havers.
"I thoroughly enjoyed it myself. Havers' style is a bit Spartan to say the least, so it was really nice to dress up, have my hair done, wear lovely dresses and do everything you wanted to do when you were a wee girl.
"I mean, look at me - I'm Queen of the Fairies! How good is that?
"And in Rebus I play a museum curator, so I get to be brainy, which is always good.
"She's also open, fun and laughs a lot. It was really nice to play a real woman - and one who wears a dress, too. My mum's going to be so pleased she'll scream."
It may be a long-awaited image change for Sharon - who has also starred in acclaimed Scots film Dear Frankie, with Gerard Butler and Emily Mortimer, and About A Boy, alongside Hugh Grant - and she is managing to give dowdy DS Havers a bit of a makeover, too. She is now filming the new series of the police drama with co-star Nathaniel Parker and has given Havers a bit of sparkle.
She said: "My hair's long, I'm getting to dress a wee bit smarter and she's getting to laugh a bit more.
"I did a turn on the karaoke the other night as Havers. It was good fun.
"There's no sign of a man yet, though.
"I hope she gets Lynley but I don't think it's going to happen. I continue to make eyes at him anyway."
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actress, who was born in Glasgow but raised in Kinghorn, Fife, is making eyes at comedian Johnny Vegas - despite the fact he has the ears and teeth of an ass while playing her enchanted lover Bottom.
Sharon said: "Johnny was lovely. He made jokes and we laughed a lot in between takes but he took his part seriously and did a really great job."
The new version of the romantic comedy is set during a surreal weekend at a holiday park and also stars Imelda Staunton, Bill Paterson and Shameless star Dean Lennox Kelly. Sharon hopes it will open up the bard's work to a whole new audience.
She said: "It's about making Shakespeare accessible. I found it scary and shied away from it at school because I just didn't get it. Then I went to drama college and learned how to read it and see it. He is witty and clever. You genuinely cry at his tragedies and laugh at his comedies. Some purists won't enjoy this version of A Midsummer Night's Dream but a lot will. It's about magic, love and romance. It's set in a holiday destination, like a Centre Parcs, called Dream Parks. Imelda Staunton and Bill Paterson come there for a big engagement party and everything ensues from there."
Sharon, who has also enjoyed TV hits with Sunburn and Glasgow Kiss, was offered the role of Titania without having to audition. It's the first time it's happened in her career but, while many would regard a shoe-in role in a big budget BBC Shakespeare adaptation as a sign of success, Sharon is not reading too much into it.
She said: "Everybody says that. You get a film and it's like: 'That's it, you've arrived, then.' For some people, it does mean that but, for others, it will come and go again.
"Sometimes, the weirdest things catapult you into another place and things that you think will, do nothing. They go by and that's it.
"I loved Dear Frankie but it only went out in cinemas for a week down here. I was so sad about that because I thought it was such a nice film."
Sharon will be working on The Inspector Lynley Mysteries until February. But before that she is looking forward to a Christmas break at home in Scotland with her boyfriend Dan, an exhibition company product manager - and a warm welcome from her mum.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is on BBC1 on November 28.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday.
