Ordinary Lies Kimberley Nixon reveals all about Holly's 'perfect' life, teasing her co-star Noel Sullivan and lying over lightbulbs...
Everyone's got a secret in Ordinary Lies and when PA Holly Pryce gets so fed up with seeing everyone else having fun on social media in Tuesday's episode, she decides to create the 'perfect' life for herself.
Actress Kimberley Nixon (Fresh Meat, Cranford) reveals more…
What can you tell us about PA Holly, the character you play in Ordinary Lies? "Holly's obsessed with social media and she feels like something's missing in her life. As Holly scrolls through Facebook and sees photos of everyone looking like they're having such a wonderful time – but that's because people only put the best photos and things up! Holly, however, starts obsessing over it and sets out to project this image, online and in real life, of where she wants to be."
What does she do? "Holly goes through Facebook and deletes anything that doesn't represent the best version of her – she only wants photos up where she's happy. She even steals other people's amazing holiday snaps and passes them off as her own! She's really just trying to get to where she wants to be in life, but she takes short cuts."
Holly also fears her boyfriend Neil (ex-Hear'Say star Noel Sullivan) is getting bored of her. What makes her think that? "Well, she's been quite badly rejected before and she feels that, with Neil, it's happening all over again. Holly's so scarred by what happened in her past that, with any indication of someone becoming a little bit disinterested in her, she immediately reverts to that primary school thing of finding out you're gonna be dumped so you be the dumper.
"Holly and Neil have got a nice thing going when you first meet them – but she starts being really horrible to him."
Neil (Noel Sullivan) can't work out why Holly's suddenly acting strange...
We understand Holly tracks down her ex, Adam (Silk's John MacMillan), behind Neil's back… "That's right. Holly thinks it's a self-fulfilling prophecy – she thinks Neil's gonna leave her, so she starts putting safety measures in place immediately, and basically goes a bit crazy. All the things she does to protect herself are really all the things that are hurting her."
The lies keep on coming when, to impress Adam, Holly takes on the persona of her stylish, successful boss, Jenna Moss (Angela Griffin), doesn’t she? "Yes. Jenna really trusts Holly. But when Jenna goes on holiday, Holly takes advantage of her not being there and takes over her home, her clothes… her life!"
Jenna really trusts Holly - so how will she react when she finds out what she's been up to?
Holly's desperate to keep her true identity hidden from Adam – but is he keeping a guilty secret of his own? "Let's just say, Holly's got this idea that the grass is always greener elsewhere. But she soon realises that, when you take a closer look, nobody's perfect!"
Holly worries when her secret life starts to spiral out of control...
What was it like working with Noel, who plays your on-screen boyfriend, Neil? "One day, we were about to film a big argument scene and we were quite concerned because we couldn't keep a straight face with each other. Noel makes me laugh so much. Also, he was really open and honest with me about not having done much TV before and this being new to him; he’s done so much theatre, but that’s an entirely different skill set. Noel's so lovely, but I've just been really mean to him so far – did he tell you what I did on his first day?"
No – what? "I found the video for Hear'Say's Pure and Simple on YouTube and read him all the comments below it. Honestly, I was beside myself with laughter. When I told my husband what I'd done, he said: 'You did what, that's really harsh?!' But, you know, you've gotta break the ice, haven't you?"
Are you any good at lying or keeping secrets? "No, I'm really bad. You'd think lying would be my superpower because I’m an actor, so I literally lie for a living. But I just can't lie. My husband and I bought a pack of lightbulbs recently and I dropped them in the car park outside and they smashed. He said to me: 'Just take them back into the shop and say they were already smashed'. So I went back in… but when I got to the cashier, I blurted out: ‘I smashed them, I dropped them in the car park’. The lady said: 'That’s all right' and just let me swap them over.
"I betray myself with lies – I blush and lose eye contact. Physically, there's no point in lying because my body won't let me do it. Holly's much, much better at lying than me!"
Ordinary Lies continues on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC1.
