Funland
Starts this autumn on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ THREE
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Sarah Smart plays Lola Sutton
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Age: 28
Comes from: Birmingham.
What's she been in before? Sarah played moody teenager, Virginia, in At Home with the Braithwaites and has also appeared in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ dramas Sparkhouse and Love Again.
Did you know? Sarah's mum is a scriptwriter and has written for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ ONE drama, Doctors.
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Sarah Smart is relishing playing the part of Lola, Dudley Sutton's wife, and she is feeling liberated at the prospect of taking her clothes off.
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"I swear, after playing this part I can do anything," laughs Sarah.
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"I feel invincible now! I've never done naked scenes before but because the script is so good it really doesn't bother me. I would never do it if it wasn't good work, but the nakedness really shows Lola's vulnerability. My mother won't recognise me when I've finished this shoot!"
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Lola arrives in Blackpool with Dudley, her husband, hoping that a weekend away will spice up their sex life. But what happens while she's there changes her life forever, as Sarah explains.
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"Lola is really straight, really shy; I think the best way to describe her is as a sexual anorexic - she's really uptight about sex. Dudley brings her to Blackpool for a romantic weekend but the guesthouse that they stay in isn't the nicest of places. They're trying to make the best of it but then Dudley loses a game of poker and it all goes completely wrong!"
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After losing the poker game, Dudley can't pay his debt and Leo Finch, who runs the guesthouse, asks for the use of his wife instead. Dudley is forced to agree and Lola starts out doing a sexy photo shoot.
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She does so well that she then agrees to do a guest spot at the lapdancing club in order to pay the debt off as quickly as possible.
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"The lap-dancing scenes were quite scary to do as I had to do them in front of all the other cast and crew," explains Sarah.
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"But it was fine in the end because it's the first time that Lola has ever done it so she doesn't really know what to do. Dudley tries to help her out by showing her the only dance that he knows – the Superman dance! And because she gets so nervous when she's on stage she does revert to doing it because she doesn't know what else to do!
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"But she's a survivor and she's very determined so she does get through it. She finds this inner strength which you can really see. She ends up thinking that all these guys are looking at her and finding her desirable and that kind of turns her on and opens up this door in her head.
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"There are so many scenes where Lola could sink or she could swim but she always seems to go for the swim option."
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Fortunately for Sarah, Lola isn't an experienced dancer and with all the action set over one weekend, there isn't much time for her to improve - so Sarah didn't have to do too much practice.
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"I decided it was better to have fewer lessons rather than more! I did have a couple of lessons though and the girls who taught me were fantastic. It's a really good form of exercise and I was aching after my first lesson."
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The prospect of pole-dancing and wearing skimpy clothes for the part did, however, provide Sarah with the motivation to get fit for the role - although this initial enthusiasm didn't last long!
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"I'm naturally quite slim, so normally I can get away with it - but I decided that I had better get fitter for this role because of the pole-dancing.
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"So, as soon as I got the part I started going to the gym but after a little while I got really lazy and decided not to bother. The whole thing about Lola is that she's not supposed to be perfect, she's a normal woman who just happened upon this crazy world."
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And what a crazy world it is. Lola's journey sees her get involved with Shirley Woolf (Ian Puleston-Davies) which proves to be a mind-blowing experience; and Carter (Daniel Mays) with whom Lola has a real connection; Lola gets involved with things that she could never have previously imagined.
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"Lola, Dudley and Carter are the outsiders really as they are all strangers to Blackpool. As Lola gets further embroiled in this world, the audience go with her. As Lola meets new people, so do the audience and they experience things with her.
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"Lola goes on this great journey which really changes her as a person. She finds this whole other side to her that she didn't know she had and in the end she becomes a much stronger person. She has a real arc and that's a really nice role to play as an actor.
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"You want to be able to tell a story - that's what acting is all about - and entertain people along the way. From that respect I think this has probably been my favourite job!"
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Lola is a very different role to those that Sarah has done before. "I played Virginia in At Home with the Braithwaites - who was a moody teenager - and then a detective in Murder Prevention, when I had to learn how to use a gun... but Lola is such a sweet and innocent girl so she's quite a contrast."
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Lola's innocence is shown very much through her costumes, particularly her shoes.
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"All the costumes have been great and everyone looks totally different in their wigs and make-up. For Lola, the key thing is her shoes because they are the most innocent looking shoes - which really sums her up!"
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