Victoria Lambert discusses her role as Marcie in Dark Season

Can you tell us a little about yourself, and how you got into acting?

I don't know myself very well, you'd have to ask [my sister] Lexie. Basically I wanted to be a ballet dancer but didn't grow tall enough or thin enough! Then wanted to be a dancer but realised that the profession was short lived. Where as you act till the day you die! Too good an opportunity and it's fun being other people.

What acting roles had you had before Dark Season?

Cabbage patch kid, a variety of little girls - some sweet some horrible, a twelve year old vindictive cow, and Marcie.

What do you remember about how you got the part of Marcie?

I borrowed my Mum's baggy dungarees, put my hair in bunches because I was told I had to look thirteen and I was nineteen at the time! Read for the director and thoroughly enjoyed myself, one of the best auditions I've had. I got recalled and that was that!

Marcie is a fairly eccentric character. In fact, she's been said to be Russell T Davies' answer to Doctor Who! What did you draw on when playing the part? Can you recall any useful guidance you had from the writer, director etc?

Russell was totally Doctor Who obsessed in my opinion and the fact that I looked like a female version of Tom Baker - he had a very long woolly scarf and I had a very long woolly cardigan! Plus we both had ludicrously permed hair. I took inspiration from my surname "Hatter", taking that to mean the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

Dark Season had a great cast including several well-known character actors and a certain future movie star. What memories do you have of working with them? Did you get on well with your co-stars, Ben Chandler and Kate Winslet? Are you still in contact with any of the cast?

Yes, they were a lovely bunch. I have lots of memories of the three of us, but I'm keeping those to myself! Kate was old beyond her fifteen years, and I couldn't get served at the bar even though I was nineteen!

Dark Season had quite a number of striking, well-executed special effects, such as the lights exploding, the flooding of the underground control room, and the Behemoth war machine rising up through the school's assembly hall stage...which you were on top of at the time! Were there any moments you were particularly impressed by - and did anything go horribly/amusingly wrong?

I remember being squeezed into a grate in a wall, having crawled through an air vent. I punch out the grate during an indoor tennis lesson, I really enjoyed this, even though I was suffering with a really nasty case of laryngitis! You can probably pick out the scenes where I didn't have a voice: "...and so it begins!" I rather enjoyed surfing on the rising stage as the Behemoth appeared.

Did you keep any mementos from the shoot?

I kept the bag and the paddle. You wouldn't believe what was inside the bag! Most bizarre artifacts, such as a broken violin, a large silver ball, to name but a few props someone thought Marcie would carry around with her. They were never seen but I'm sure they felt better with the knowledge that they were in there, I know it really helped my performance!!!!!

Do you have a particular favourite moment from the series, on or off screen?

I can't remember really, but I do remember going through a safety talk with the laser chap before filming with the Behemoth in war mode. He said if we looked at the laser and it hit our eyes we would have a blind spot the size of a 10p. I was shit scared after that! I really didn't want to lift my head up as I only have one set of eyes... and I wasn't getting paid enough! I do remember in the same scene where Eldritch is doing one of his speeches at me and we were suffering with terrible corpsing. He managed to get through the scene but you can see that I was laughing my head off - even though my back was to the camera you can still see my cheeks rising! Very unprofessional!

There was talk of a second series for Dark Season, but the BBC opted to go with another run of Maid Marian instead. Would you have been interested in playing the role again if the second series had gone ahead?

Absolutely! Who wouldn't!

What have you been up to since Dark Season? One of the visitors to my website mentioned that you'd been their drama teacher...

Yeah, I prefer a steady wage and having some sense of security, but also that I have a place in society. The entertainment industry is oversaturated and there really isn't enough luck for everyone. I am a full time drama teacher and english teacher at a girls school in SevenOaks. I also teach at Italia Conti. I am a member of a repertory drama society and direct and perform regularly.

Have you seen Dark Season recently? Do you think it holds up well? Are you surprised there's a continuing interest in it?

I haven't seen it for years! I am surprised by the interest but not surprised when you think about it. My husband still gets a huge kick out of the fact that he married the heroine of one of his most favourite kids tv programmes, he was sixteen at the time of airing and remembers it very well! He is a teacher as well and regularly goes on Dark Season sites during ICT sessions and shows his kids! I have never shown any of my kids!

My thanks to Victoria, and to Lexie for organising the interview.