Ok Magazine (issue 629) - July 1st 2008, SJ and Andy Newton Lee interview

[Melissa Kane]

I was at the hairdressers this morning, waiting for my mum to have her hair cut, when I began browsing through the magazines left for customers.

so you can imagine my joy at discovering an interview in one of the old copies of OK wherein Sarah-Jane and Andrew Newton Lee about Casualty, their careers and some generally fascinating chit-chat. And that Trish, the lovely lady who owns Corner Cut (shameless advertising but I care not a jot! She's a star!), kindly allowed me to have the magazine to take home. And now, here I sit, grinning like an idiot and enjoying re-reading the interview once more and looking at the brilliant pictures! YAY for OK!

Here are SJ's sections of the interview. The entire interview, including Andy Newton Lee's sections (sorry to omit them from here, Andy, but this section is for Sarah-Jane only) will be available on the Underestimated Talent site once its completed.

OK Magazine (issue 629) - July 1st 2008

Who says Casualty is boring? These days, the Saturday-night BBC1 hospital soap that no-one admits watching is suddenly streetwise, cool and (dare we say it?) dangerous - thanks to the input of guest actors like Andy Newton Lee and Sarah-Jane Potts, whose characters' tangled personal lives are bringing a certain cutting edge to the fictional world of Holby General.

And let's face it, these guys are cool - andy, once better known as Hollyoaks' aspiring Casanova Robbie Flynn, is now something of a mover and shaker in the Hollywood hills, thanks to his new Los Angeles-based celebrity-help business, while Sarah-Jane, who shot to fame as luscious lesbian Saint in cult Channel 4 drama Sugar Rush, juggles a busy life as an actress and mum to four-year-old Buster.

Now they're setting Casualty alight with thier incendiary storyline - a three-cornered flare-up between mental health burse Abs (played by James Redmond), his best mate, progressive alcoholic Stacey (Andy), who's just survived a massive car crash, and Stacey's girlfriend Ellie (Sarah-Jane) who once went out with Abs. Still with us? Keep up at the back!

"It's been heavy stuff - and I had trouble sleeping," admits 26-year old Andy about some of his 'cold turkey' scenes - and there's much more edge-of-the-sofa melodrama in the offing. "Something happens soon between Abs, Ellie and Stacey which will leave the whole series on a cliffhanger," says Sarah-Jane, 31 - and thats all they're allowed to tell us!

Over some delicious lunch at Noura Piccadilly (part of the unique Noura chain of top lebanese restaurants), our guests told us all about life in LA, filming hot lesbian love scenes - and bumping into two celebrities at an AA meeting.

...

Sarah-Jane, tell us a bit about your Casualty character...

She's Stacey's girlfriend Ellie - they're engaged, about to get married and they have a child together - Joey., who's seven or eight. When they were all teenagers, Ellie went out with Abs, so theres a whole can of worms there. Ellie and Stacey have come back into Ab's life and it's complicated, to say the least.

You're a mum both on and off-screen, aren't you?

Yes, my own boy is Buster, who's four. And in Casualty, my son Joey is played by a very cheeky lad who's also called joe! I love playing a mum on screen. I think the maternal instincts come out very naturally when you do actually have a child. Buster hasn't met Joe and thats probably not a good idea. Can you imagine? "This is my other son!" I think Buster is a bit too young.

Does Buster understand what mummy does for a living?

Buster thinks everybody he knows is on telly. My brother, Andrew Lee Potts is an actor - he goes out with Hannah Spearritt and they both star in Primeval. so buster thinks thats what you do when you grow up. I'm trying to tell him: "Actually, no, darling, there are lots of things you can do when you're a grown-up." He doesn;t watch Casualty but he does watch Primeval, and I don't know which is worse - dinosaurs chewing people's heads off or operations!

Sugar Rush was a real cult show - did it bring you a lot of recognition?

Much more than I ever anticipated. It still does now. I played Saint, who was the main character's first real girlfriend. She was just so cool. she had style, she was that person who everyone wants to be at school. When i went to my first audition, I thought, I don't get it, I'm the person who trip over nothing, and I'm a bit of a geek, and I don;t know why you think I can do this convincingly! She owned a women's-only sex shop in Brighton and she was a dJ. If I was a lesbian, I'd be that lesbian. She was a luscious lesbian. she had a ridiculously enviable social life, even just as a character.

How did you find filming those sex scenes?

You're always apprehensive that your co-star is going to be uncomfortable. You're more apprehensive of that than being comfortable yourself. Especially because Olivia Hallinan, the star of the series, was only 20. I kinda felt like I didn;t want her to do anything that she wasn't comfortable with, because I really didn't give a s**t. I'd pushed a baby out so I was like, this is nothing! There was a lot of nudity and some dildo scenes! Not that we were using them. But I would go: "this is my gift to you," and she would be horrified!

Did you receive a lot of fan mail from lesbians who watch the show?

I still do. Is i was a lesbian, I'd be spoilt for choice! I can;t go to Brighton, where we filmed sugar Rush, very often because I get recognised. Of course, its a compliment when a lesbian thinks you're gay, because it means you've done your job well. it is quite funny, when they go: "Oh, you're not gay!" and they look so disappointed.

...

Sarah-Jane, do you have a boyfriend?

I'm not telling you! I try not to talk about my personal life. The only thing I do talk about is that I have a son. and I have been a single mother.

It's obviously early days, but how would you feel is Buster started showing signs of interest in following in your footsteps?

God forbid! He loves getting laughs. He knows when he's done something that makes people laugh and then he's on a roll. I just think, cant't he be a chef or a writer or an astronaut? I asked him the other day what he wanted to be and he said: "A unicorn!" So that's where we're at just now.

Have you ever worked with your brother Andrew on anything?

We did a Dalziel and Pascoe episode together, playing twins who went around murdering people. We're not twins. It's on the internet that we are twins, apparently. He's three years younger than me. And I like being the older one!

Come on, then, fans! Give it up for a cracking (and, frankly all too rare) SJ interview! She's just too darned cool! I'll have the pics up soon, hopefully, for your enjoyment also.
*grinz*
'Lissa.

[Melissa Kane]

The pics and such are online now, on the OK website.

Sarah-Jane Potts and Andy Newton-Lee.


'Lissa.