DATE OF BIRTH : 1980
PLACE OF ORIGIN : Doncaster, South Yorkshire
LIVES : Owns a semi-detached house in Wadworth. Used to share a flat with Jan Anderson in Bristol, when filming CASUALTY.
FAMILY : Mother, Gill. Father, Ken, who lives in San Franciso. Younger brother, Daniel.
STUDIED : Went to Hungerhill School in Doncaster.
PREVIOUS JOBS : Tele marketing, modelling, doing catwalks and commercials.
ON CHARACTER NIKKI : ‘Nikki is very feisty and she is quick to jump the mark. Episode one shows her first day as a paramedic and there is a big crash that gives her a lot of self doubt.’
ON PLAYING NIKKI : ‘She’s a cracking good part to play.’
ON SIMILARITIES WITH NIKKI : ‘We’re both young and happy and really like to enjoy life. Nikki still lives with her Mum though and I left to live in London when I became a model at 16.’
ON NIKKI’S BEST & WORST TRAITS : ‘Nikki is really enthusiastic about her job and wants to do well. She gets on well with her colleagues and is always there for a good booze-up. Every scene that’s been shot in a pub – there she is! But she’s a bit gobby and doesn’t think before she opens her mouth.’
DESCRIBE NIKKI IN FIVE WORDS: ‘Feisty, gorgeous, a happy-go-lucky character.’
WHO NIKKI WOULD GIVE THE KISS OF LIFE TO : ‘Definitely Jack – he’s such a bad, bad boy!’
ON GETTING CASUALTY PART : ‘When they gave me the part, I was crying my eyes out because I was so happy’
ON CASUALTY CAST : ‘There’s a good atmosphere on the Set, because everyone knows eachother after all the years of filming together.. everyone has been so kind to me on the show. I realise I still have a lot to learn but I think I’m in the best place because I’m surrounded by such a lot of talent, some of it must rub off!’
ON HER FIRST SCENES : ‘My first few scenes were very tough but I didn’t have the chance to find it hard. I was thrown into the deep end in a story involving an ambulance crash. I didn’t have time to think about it; I just had to get on with it!’
ON FILMING S16E1 : ‘We filmed that up near Loughborough in the countryside because we couldn’t find a location near Bristol that wasn’t affected by foot and mouth restrictions. There was a lot of action involved and I ended up with very bruised shins, I can tell you.’
ON MEDICAL JARGON : ‘The main worry for me has been not so much learning my lines, but learning how to say the medical terms that Nikki uses with confidence. I’m speaking the ordinary words OK but when I come to some jargon I immediately slow up – it’s getting better as I go on.’
MISTAKES DURING FILMING : ‘I still can’t cope with some of the gadgets that the paramedics carry. I was doing a scene with a guy the other day, who played a builder trapped by rubble, and I turned to him, speaking my lines, and smacked his head with the resuscitator. I didn’t know whether to laugh or apologise – and in the end did both. He was very nice about it! There must be so many out takes of me messing up that I dread to think what’s on the cutting room floor.’
REAL LIFE CASUALTY EXPERIENCES : ‘I was a complete tomboy and rogue when I was a kid and broke my arm when I fell off the top bunk bed. But I went out on my bike afterwards and jarred it and made it even worse. I can’t remember much about going to hospital, but I did have a ‘pot’ put on it for quite a while.’
ON BEING A REAL LIFE PARAMEDIC? : ‘No I couldn’t do this job in real life, I have a great respect for the people that do it, they are absolutly amazing people, it takes a lot of courage and guts.’
FAVE FOOD : ‘Chicken arabbiata and a great big salad. I love any sort of salad, real rabbit food.’
FAVE MUSIC : ‘I was brought up as a dancer, so I love all kinds of music, from old movie tunes to whatever’s in the pop charts.’
ON KEEPING FIT : ‘I try to get to the gym four or five times a week for a couple of hours. I try not to think about it during the day, else I’d go off the idea. But I often go with Jan Anderson after work and she spurs me on’
HOW SHE RELAXES : ‘I read and watch television and I really got hooked on Big Brother. But even though I appeared on Paddington Green I could never see myself doing anything like that’
BAD HABITS : ‘I eat too much cheese and crisps. I crave them all day. They’re my favourite snack.’
TELEVISION CREDITS : Paddington Green; Casualty; Where the Heart Is; The Last Detective; Waking the Dead; Marion Again; Born and Bred; The Street; Goldplated; Nina and the Neurons (voice); Mother, Mine; The Bill; A Passionate Woman; Identity; Silent Witness; The Body Farm
FILM CREDITS : Dream; Spring 1941; Upstairs
AGENT : Conway Van Gelder, 3rd Floor, 8-12 Broadwick Street, London W1F 8HW.
