Archive

Great LezBritain: Interview with Heather Peace from “Lip Service”

Great LezBritian” is a fortnightly stroll through the very best of British lesbo-centric entertainment and culture. Plus there will be some jolly good interviews with the top ladies who are waving the flag for gay UK. One thing has been clear since Lip Service aired its second episode last week: You all love a bit of DS Sam Murray, a.k.a. the hot cop, a.k.a. Heather Peace. Sam’s stability and self-respect, plus her strong repertoire of sexual antics already have a lot of viewers fantasizing about hook-ups, pat downs and disorderly conducts.

We first met Heather back in January, not long after Lip Service had completed filming, in a quaint little coffee shop in the epicentre of Soho, London’s rainbow mothership. Within the first moments of meeting her, we could see that she was a wickedly funny person with a little bit of the DS’s swagger, whose passion for the show started before she had even read a script.

We spoke to Heather about playing Sam, being the only lesbian in the cast, being chosen to play the butch one, and her thoughts on a second series (season) of Lip Service.

AfterEllen.com: So tell us how was Lip Service for you.

Heather Peace: It was my favourite ever job. It’s about a group of gay girls but ultimately it is a love story, and although some people will tune in for titillation value, I think they will soon get over that and see that it’s about people, love and friendship. I am really proud of it.

I am hoping that Lip Service will cross the same sort of boundaries as Brokeback Mountain, in the way that you forget you are watching two guys, and it just becomes about their love. I hope people will just see Lip Service as a love story and forget about gender.

AE: Tell us a bit about the casting process.

HP: Well, we all went for the Frankie part. Almost every actress in the country went for Frankie. And then they asked me to read for Sam and I thought it was a really great role. Harriet [Braun, the show’s creator] told me she really liked me for that part.

Because there isn’t that much work around at the moment, the producers really had their pick of everyone. Where you would typically have 20 actresses going for a part, you will now get 60. I had actually just been offered Coronation Street, but I really wanted to do Lip Service, so I called Harriet to get an answer early and I ended up being the first person to be cast.

AE: How do you view the character of Sam?

HP: Well, funnily enough, at the audition, I remember saying, “I can do this part standing on my head,” but you still have to read for it and hopefully you can then nail it.

Sam is sort of estranged from the main group. You don’t really know about her friends or much else about her. The main thing is that she’s Cat’s partner and is then involved in the love triangle with Frankie.

They wanted Sam to be a bit butch, so I was the only one that didn’t get to wear any make-up on screen. I only got a tiny bit of base and no mascara — so I don’t look particular glamorous.

AE: What do you think it is about Sam that will make half the audience root for her, instead of Frankie?

HP: We have made her quite exciting, sexually; she is a bit of a goer. I had nine sex scenes in total, and in almost every scene, I was snogging Laura! There is definitely an edge to her. I didn’t think that in The L Word, the storyline in Series 2 involving Helena and Bette and Tina worked because you didn’t want Helena and Tina to be together. But with this storyline, I think we have created enough tension that the audience will be split over who they want Cat to be with. Sam is offering Cat more of a steady relationship. She is very sorted and together.

I had such a brilliant time playing her but I’ve asked my mother not to watch it because that would be my worst nightmare! [all laugh] I won’t have any of my friends ’round to watch it either.

AE: Surely, they will watch though.

HP: Yes, they will all watch it but just not with me in the room! My mum says to me, “Oh, it’s just sex,” and although I have done sex scenes before, it has never been as overt as this.

AE: Since [the soap opera] Emmerdale, you have worn a lot of uniforms in your acting roles and you are once again a policewoman in Lip Service, why do you think that is? HP: I think I am typecast to a degree but I love it! I get to play roles that lots of boys would love to do, so I am happy to keep going with it. My mum would like to see me in a costume drama but that isn’t ever going to happen.

AE: This year was your first year on the Independent on Sunday’s “Pink List,” how did it feel to be the UK’s 40th most influential gay?

HP: My mum told me I had made it on and she was really excited. I wasn’t too sure what it meant, if I am truthful. But after having a look at all the amazing people that were on the list, I just felt thrilled by it.

AE: There’s a good chance, in next year’s “Pink List,” you will be placed much higher because of your role on Lip Service.

HP: Well yes, maybe. When I started out in my career, being gay was still a big issue in the press. And they were outing people for no reason and not thinking about the consequences. I have always been out but when I was younger, I didn’t really talk about it and I did think it could be detrimental to my career.

I do think if there had been an actress that was openly gay when I was starting out, it would have made things easier for me. It’s so important for young people to have role models. But I do completely understand why some actors and actresses don’t come out. Because although things have moved on a bit, it can affect people’s careers, even though it is complete nonsense for people to think that just because you are an openly gay woman, you can’t play opposite a man.

AE: Now you will be a role model for young gay actresses. I do think it is important that there is someone gay in a show like Lip Service to signal that change.

HP: I think so too, but I think it is equally significant that each of the other actresses [on the show] thought it was a really important story to tell. [They] felt passionate about the story, regardless of the fact that they would be playing gay characters.

AE: Was this project so special to you because it was a lesbian drama or because you just felt that the show was good?

HP: It was a combination of both. I thought the script was good but when you also know that what you’re doing is possibly groundbreaking, then that’s really exciting as an actor.

AE: Do you think your other cast members make convincing lesbians?

HP: Yes I do. And I think Ruta, especially, does a fine job as Frankie. She is absolutely spot on. I think it is inevitable that she will be compared to Shane in The L Word but really, she plays the type of gay girl that I see out and about so often now. But really, what does a gay girl look like these days?

AE: When we spoke to Harriet, she said that when casting the roles, she was looking for a bit of lesbian in each cast member. HP: I think in this day and age, it comes down to whether you look like you are in love with the girl you are playing opposite. And everyone did a really fine job. Harriet did say that I got the part because of my swagger and I didn’t realise I had one. Of all of my gay girlfriends, I am the least butch. You could blow on me and I would fall over, so they think it is hilarious that I am the most butch in this show.

Harriet is such an awesome lady and we have become really good friends. I think she is somewhat worried about the audience’s reaction because the gay community can be quite protective about how they are portrayed.

AE: I don’t know if you have heard of AfterEllen.com, but there is a lot of excited chat on there about Lip Service.

HP: I came across AfterEllen.com for the first time recently. It was really interesting to read, I couldn’t believe the level of excitement. Readers seem especially excited that the BBC is commissioning this show.

AE: Laura [Fraser, who plays Cat] mentioned that all the cast went round hers one night. You cooked a lovely Thai curry and she took on the hostess role. It made her think that you two were the matriarchal figures of the group.

HP: This was the first job I’ve ever had where I was the oldest cast member. I have played the baby in every other show I’ve done, so I did feel like the matriarch sometimes on this show. I would be the one sorting out the bill when we were in restaurants and yeah, cooking the dinner at Laura’s. That was a wicked night.

AE: Did you hang out much as a group?

HP: Yes we did. Laura couldn’t so much because she has a little girl. [After work] she had to get back to her, but the rest of us did. You expect a little bit of tension when it is a group of girls, but there was not one single ego. I was shocked because I have worked with women before who have been tricky, but this was the best bunch of girls. AE: Do you hope there will be a Season 2 of Lip Service?

HP: Absolutely! I have a really good feeling about it. It was one of the most fun and rewarding jobs I have ever done and there was something about Glasgow that made it really special as well. Originally, it was going to be set in London but it being in Glasgow really helped to make the show. It needed to be set in a place that meant these people can’t avoid each other — you couldn’t get that sense in London because it’s too big. When you see Glasgow on film, it is stunning. It was filmed around the Merchant City and there was a real energy about the place.

AE: What else are you working on at the moment?

HP: I just filmed another show in which I wear a uniform! Plus I am doing a lot of gigs around the UK because I’m also a jazz singer. Music is something I feel equally passionate about.

We are organising the Lip Service Finale party in Glasgow on 16th November and we are most delighted to announce that Heather will be performing a short acoustic set. The guest list is tight but to have a chance of getting yourself on it, and to find out more follow @greatlezbritain on Twitter.

If you don’t want to leave your date with Heather up to chance, then you can also buy tickets for “An Evening With Heather Peace” on the 17th November at Sloans Bar in Glasgow. She will be joined by Glasgow’s own Jill Jackson and will do an audience Q&A as part of the set. Tickets are available now by clicking here.

You can see the rest of Heather’s UK tour dates here, and follow both Heather and Jill on Twitter – @heatherpeace @jilljackson01

“Great LezBritain” authors Sarah, a Londoner, and Lee, a Glaswegian, met in a gay discotheque one bleak mid winter, eight years ago and have been shacked up together ever since. When not watching Tipping The Velvet, they find time to write, run a PR company, DJ at their own club nights and love a bit of jam on toast. Follow them on Twitter at greatlezbritain.

 

 

 

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button