TV Cop Sharon Teams Up With Liza
Sunday Mail, 25 June 2006
By Steve Hendry
SHARON SMALL has ditched being dishy TV cop Inspector Lynley's dowdy sidekick and found herself a new partner in crime. The Scots star - downtrodden Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers in the hit BBC drama - teams up with fiesty Liza Tarbuck in the new series as her boss has been suspended. And Sharon loved getting to be in charge after six years being bossed around in the Inspector Lynley Mysteries.
Following the suspension of Lynley - played by Nathaniel Parker - at the end of the last series, Havers teams up with Detective Inspector Fiona Knight (Tarbuck). And the normally timid cop ends up getting to order ex-boss Lynley around.
Sharon said: "Havers is being shunted around because of Lynley's suspension, so she ends up with Liza whose character is very pregnant, very outspoken and very opinionated.
"She completely takes command of Havers but is really trying to encourage her to be strong and speak up for herself.
"It's quite comical and they end up working well together. Due to Knight's pregnancy, Havers ends up in charge of the case and in charge of Lynley, who is doing a bit of work on the investigation on the side. And she thoroughly enjoys it. But so does he. He's got a little twinkle in his eye. I think he secretly enjoys being bossed around by a dominant woman.
"Liza was great to work with. She's buoyant and likes a laugh. There's talk of her coming back and it would be wonderful if she does."
Sharon, 39, was born in Glasgow and raised in Fife but fears she has been putting on an English accent for so long that people have forgotten she is a Scot. She realised the mix-up after starring as Ken Stott's love interest in Inspector Rebus earlier this year.
She said: "Quite a lot of people had forgotten I was Scottish until Rebus came on. I've met people lately who have said: 'I didn't realise you talked like that. Oh my God, are you Scottish?'
"It's made me realise how long I've not been talking in my own accent."
In between filming Lynley, Sharon starred in Rebus and a lavish BBC adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the latter, she got to throw off Havers' down-at-heel image and play raunchy Fairy Queen Titania. Sharon - who has also starred in films About A Boy and Dear Frankie and in TV's Glasgow Kiss and Sunburn - also appeared in gritty play The Exonerated. She is taking a break with her non-actor partner Dan before filming two feature-length episodes of Lynley in October.
She said: "I never expected Lynley to last as long as it has and the great thing is I enjoyed this last series more than any of them. We know the characters really well and there is more humour and more human interaction."
The new series of Inspector Lynley Mysteries starts on BBC1 on July 10.
