Louisa Lytton feature

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I'M ALL PC SINCE LEAVING SQUARE
Ex-EastEnder Louisa Lytton on joining cop drama The Bill
By Steve Hendry

Louisa Lytton doesn't wear a police uniform well - her hat looks like it's about to topple off and she just looks so YOUNG. Her elfin face belongs to someone who should still be at school never mind taking on TV crooks as The Bill's latest recruit, PC Beth Green. But as Sun Hill's criminal underworld are about to find out, you underestimate this teenager at your peril.

Louisa, 18, said: "Beth is a probationer so she's not got a lot of confidence yet. She's just started and it's all very new to her. She's young and she looks young. She's small and looks small so nobody really believes she can do it - but she will prove she's a good cop. She's determined and she's the kind who sits down and has a long conversation with an old granny who's had her purse stolen but ends up getting more information out of her than anyone else on the team. And she has a very good memory to the point where you could tell her your phone number and she would remember it straight off. She doesn't get off to the best of starts but she will come good."

And the ex-EastEnder knows what she is talking about because there's a lot of Louisa in Beth. Louisa still stays at home with her parents, Jane and Alan, in central London and is only two years out of school. Despite that, her recent resume makes her a showbiz veteran. She joined EastEnders aged just 15 as spoiled gangster's daughter Ruby Allen and picked up Sexiest Female at last year's Soap Awards for her efforts - before producers suddenly axed her from the show. She was upset by the shock decision but barely had time to dry her tears before she was hot-footing it across to the Strictly Come Dancing studio and glittering like the sequins on her costumes as she hoofed her way to fourth place on the hit show.

And she waltzed straight out of that to The Bill where she takes her first steps on the beat this week. On paper, it looks effortless but it was far from it. Louisa had to wait by the phone to hear if she had got the job on The Bill like anybody else. She said: "I wasn't approached by anyone from The Bill. I had to audition and when I got it I was so delighted. I started filming after Christmas and it was really nerve-wracking at first but everyone has been so lovely to me. I have really settled in well."

Things don't run so smoothly for Beth on-screen. After being hit by a barrage of comments about her youthful looks - including DC Terry Perkins' (Bruce Byron) quip that he has underpants older than her - she gets off to the worst possible start when she accidentally lets off pepper spray in the face of her grumpy new partner PC Emma Hinckely (Melanie Gutteridge).

Louisa admits it's not a job she could ever do herself, especially having been out with real boys in blue to research the role. She said: "We have to go out with the police for a day and we have a few days where they come in and advise us. It's so important because I haven't got a clue. I've never had any dealings with police before - I've been a good girl! I'm learning so much. I've had to arrest someone which was fun but I've had no injuries yet. I haven't been bloodied or scratched but I'm looking forward to that - as long as it's make believe! There's no way I could do it for real. I couldn't arrest anyone because I'd just feel so sorry for them."

Playing the good girl in The Bill is a marked contrast to her role in EastEnders, when she played the daughter of callous villain Johnny Allen - played by former Bill stalwart Billy Murray. Despite being dumped from the show, she's still a fan and would love to go back to Albert Square one day.

She said: "If the opportunity came up to go back, I probably would. It would obviously depend on what I was doing at the time but it was their choice to let me go. I was happy there. But in saying that, I have no real complaints. I was there long enough in the sense that I got a good go at it. The great thing about The Bill is it's not a soap. It's a drama, it's all action and it's a totally different way of working. I need stuff like this to get experience behind me and learn as much as possible. And Beth Green is very different from Ruby Allen. I'm not crying every week which is a bit of a relief."

She still watches EastEnders when she gets a chance and knows what's happening because she's still in touch with a lot of the cast. She's best of mates with Lacey Turner, who plays Stacey Slater, and recently caught up with Walford regulars at a birthday party for James Alexandrou, who played Martin Fowler.

Her famous friends backed her when she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing last year, as the youngest contestant ever to take part. Louisa's experience at the Sylvia Young Theatre School - which has spawned the likes of Billie Piper, Denise Van Outen and fellow Strictly... competitor and former Spice Girl Emma Bunton - stood her in good stead. She and her professional dance partner, the Italian tango champ Vincent Simone, came a credible fourth in the show. Even so, she cried buckets when she was voted off.

She said: "I loved Strictly Come Dancing, absolutely loved it. I know everybody goes on about how much they enjoyed it but it was true. I was emotional when I left but not because I expected to win - just because it was over. I got so into it. I came straight from Strictly to The Bill so I haven't been able to keep dancing but I keep in touch with Vincent and I'm sure I will take up lessons again."

Louisa's tour of duty of Sun Hill is for at least 18 months and she's happy to wait and see what happens thereafter. With her track record she's confident something will turn up. In the meantime, she's just got to get used to the uniform. She said: "I'm loving the uniform - not! It is not very flattering but I'm getting comfortable in it now, which is something I wasn't at all at first."

The Bill is on ITV on Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm.

from HERE

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another ex-ender in The Bill! It's not even funny anymore...

[eefanincan]

It just eats you up, doesn't it Face????

After seeing her as Ruby, I can hardly picture her in this role, but I guess time will tell.

[alan1254]

is it compulsary that the bill and EE swap actors back and forth?