She has a real crush on Tom Cogswell

PA to… Simon Turner (Darren Boyd)
Take Note… Fame v Real-life responsibilities
Most likely to… Belt out a show-tune whilst doing the filing
Strengths… She’s the best friend you can ever have
Weaknesses… Reality often comes second place to celebrity

On the whole, Midge thinks everyone’s brilliant. She’s a bouncy, emotionally intelligent space cadet who dropped out of hairdressing college and is now desperate to be famous, at any price.

So she can’t believe her luck when she finds out she’s made it into the final 12 of a TV reality talent show: Wizard Of Oz: Dare To Dream. At last it looks like fame is beckoning for the Scouser wannabe and on top of that she has finally pulled loverboy Robbie – the office totty.

“She’s such an open person who wears her heart on her sleeve and tries to see the best in everyone,” says Annabel. “I’ve really fallen in love with her as a character and there’s so much more to Midge than the fame thing.

“Ultimately she’d be your ideal work mate because, even if she’s feeling depressed or down, she’ll do anything for anyone and will always try and snap herself out of it for the sake of everyone else.”

And, more often than not, Midge does have to paint on that smile as life for the PAs doesn’t exactly run smoothly at investment bank Hartmann Payne.

Unfortunately, her excitement at having the chance to follow the yellow brick road is short-lived after the TV company find out about her secret past. And, as soon as he hears Midge isn’t going to be famous, Robbie (Jamie Davis) dumps her as well.

Thankfully she’s got the full support of her boss Simon (Darren Boyd) – only what Midge doesn’t realise is that her married boss is in love with his PA and he orchestrated her being kicked off the TV show so she wouldn’t leave the company, or more importantly, leave him.

“Midge has no idea about Simon’s feelings but if she did I don’t think she would reciprocate. I’m not sure office romances are a good thing anyway. I’ve had romances on acting jobs and they don’t tend to work out,” she adds, laughing. “Plus, if you split up with someone, you have to keep working with them. That has happened to me before and it’s very, very awkward.”

Meanwhile, Midge is extremely close to Lucy (Laura Aikman), can’t quite comprehend Nicole’s (Maimie McCoy) pessimism and has a bizarre connection with Sid (Ruth Negga) even though, on the surface, they couldn’t be more different.

Clearly something of a fantasist, Midge has been let down by the real world at an early age but still desperately wants to believe that everything is as good as the movies promise it will be. She’s not going to allow one setback to get in the way of her quest for celebrity and continues to try anything to make her dream of fame come true.

But the past is coming back to haunt her.

“Everything she fantasises about she does genuinely believe can happen. That’s something I love about her because I agree that if you set your mind on something then you really can do it,” suggests Annabel.

“Maybe because of things that happened to her when she was younger she feels she has something to prove. She is an optimist and she’s always looking forward, but the poor thing does take a real battering as the series goes on.”

Annabel, recently seen on screen as bloodthirsty vampire Lauren in BBC Three’s Being Human, has also notched up appearances in Jane Eyre and Holby City, as well as playing a lesbian mortgage broker in EastEnders.

And Annabel hopes that her lead role in Personal Affairs will prove to be her big TV break:

“I’m loving Personal Affairs because it’s my first big television job. I didn’t really know what to expect at all and I’ve learnt so much since we started.

“Plus, I had to perfect a Liverpool accent for my second audition which was very nerve-wracking, so I sat down one afternoon and watched Educating Rita on a loop and thankfully I found out I could do it.

“When I first got the part I didn’t quite understand why I’d got it because I’m not Scouse, I’m not ditzy. But further down the line I realise now I am so like Midge and I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

Something else Annabel shares with her Personal Affairs persona is a lack of secretarial strengths.

She says: “I’m so bad on computers. It’s unbelievable how bad I am so I’ve done everything I can to avoid them. The only time I worked in an office was on work experience at a theatre and they had me photocopying stuff as well and I couldn’t do that either.

“I literally can’t make anything work in an office and so problematic for me was the fact that Midge is supposed be very good at typing and brilliant on the internet and everything. Thank God we were allowed to air-type during filming so no-one can actually see that my fingers aren’t even touching the keyboard!”

BBC Press Release

PA to… Iain Ebelthite (Mark Benton)
Take Note… Beauty and brains
Most likely to… Make you a millionaire
Strengths… Making rich people even richer
Weaknesses… Crippling lack of self-belief

Freakishly gifted at making rich people even richer, Lucy has no formal education but possesses a phenomenal talent with figures and a natural instinct for wise investments. But, despite her knack for financial wizardry, Lucy has a crippling lack of self-belief and is convinced she’s not good enough to be the boss.

Confident in every other aspect of her life, as soon as a manager walks into the office all Lucy’s business brilliance gets buried beneath a facade of “Miss Friendly Bubbly Efficient PA of the Year”.

But her friends know she’s got what it takes to move up the career ladder, trouble is so does her incompetent (and often drunk) boss Iain (Mark Benton) and he doesn’t want to lose her.

So while Lucy spends her days making millions for Iain’s clients, he spends his days taking credit for all of her hard work.

“It’s frustrating for Lucy that she’s not getting on because she wants it desperately. But unfortunately she’s her own worst enemy as she’s the one who isn’t pushing herself forward,” explains Laura.

“She essentially already does her boss’s job for him but never gets any recognition because he’s always p***ed or out of the office on a jolly.

“In many ways Iain is the boss from hell but at the same time his incompetence has allowed Lucy to learn so much, which would never have happened if he was actually doing his job properly. So in a way it has been a blessing in disguise.”

Lucy mothers Midge (Annabel Scholey) even though she’s a year older than her. She’s incredibly fond of her PA pal but it’s Nicole (Maimie McCoy) who is her best friend at work.

Nicole loves Lucy’s openness and warmth while Lucy admires Nicole’s confidence and control.

Initially there’s a real tension between Lucy and Sid (Ruth Negga) who represents all the things Lucy hates – arrogant snobs.

However off-screen all the young Personal Affairs actresses have formed firm friendships, which Laura admits is a huge relief.

“You do worry beforehand about whether you will get on, especially when you’re playing a group of friends. I think the first time we all had a proper chat was at the read through and then we had a week’s rehearsal so we tried to get to know each other a little bit there and told each other far too much in-depth information about ourselves.

“Lots of artificial bonding went on but it worked. It’s great to be part of such a young cast and we get on brilliantly even though, like our characters, we are all so different.”

Lucy is married to her childhood sweetheart Bob (Joe Absolom), an unambitious builder.

What started off as true love teenage-style has become bumpy in adult life. Lucy is Bob’s trophy wife but lately she’s not fitting into that mould and he blames her burgeoning career.

Laura says: “I was really excited when I saw Joe Absolom was playing my husband but we didn’t meet properly until we had our first day on set. Obviously someone you are married to you are very physical with very naturally so I had to say, ‘I may touch you a little bit in this scene, don’t be offended and I’ll try not to be inappropriate’.

“Obviously I tried to hold myself back from touching Joe Absolom, but sometimes it’s difficult. I think it got to day two before I had to cop a quick feel!”

When an opportunity for promotion at work unexpectedly comes along for Lucy, things start to look up.

But there’s shock in store for the ambitious personal assistant…

“By the end of the first couple of episodes Lucy’s head is all over the place – she’s utterly confused,” admits Laura.

“I can’t wait to see how it all comes across on screen and everyone else I know is really looking forward to seeing it, especially my girlfriends, because I haven’t done anything that’s been highly girly in the past.

“This has got that Sex And The City and Friends vibe about it and the costumes are fab too – especially the shoes!”

The actress, who starred in Teenage Kicks and BBC Three drama Dis/Connected, will also be a familiar face to younger viewers having starred in the title role of the hugely popular BBC children’s drama The Mysti Show, playing a half-human/half-fairy who is torn between her two worlds.

Laura rolls her eyes and laughs at the mention of Mysti.

“I still get recognised a lot by children. Kids are amazing – whereas adults are more likely to be discreet or can’t quite place you, kids know exactly who you are and they think you really are that person.

“I did Mysti four years ago but it must be on CBBC now because I still get mobs of kids shouting ‘Oi Mysti!’ at me. I just run in the opposite direction!”

PA to… Rachel Klein (Emily Bruni)
Take Note… Love, Sex or Money?
Most likely to… Bag herself a rich man
Strengths… Calm and collected under pressure
Weaknesses… Can be colder than the office air-conditioning

Born into an extremely wealthy family, Nicole’s world fell apart when her father not only abandoned her mother but left the family penniless. The loss of her father nailed her view of the world – that over and above everything else she’d never be poor again.

Nicole is the embodiment of cynical pessimism. A confident and controlling character who never gets emotionally involved with blokes, instead Nicole uses poor men for thrills and rich men for their wallets.

“Initially people can think Nicole’s a bit of an ice queen because she doesn’t give a lot away and is fiercely independent,” says Maimie.

“But actually she’s damaged goods and she’s got a very fragile heart which, of course, she keeps well locked up.

“When her dad walked out, her life was completely shattered, so now in all Nicole’s relationships with men – and I use the term relationship in the loosest sense, maybe liaisons is a better word – it always comes down to the father figure. That primary figure that so shattered her as a child and has made her very wary as an adult.”

Recently, Nicole had mind-blowing random sex with a mysterious guy but has absolutely no interest in seeing him again. But unbeknown to them both, there’s a hidden connection there that could have serious repercussions if they were ever revealed.

Maimie explains what it was like filming the steamy clinch: “What seems like a spot of harmless fun soon gets horribly out of hand. I can tell you I was so nervous before we filmed that scene because it’s technically difficult to get right and such a strange thing to be filmed doing!

“More than that we had to do it first thing in the morning, so you are up at half-five not feeling or looking your best and you think, ‘I don’t want to have sex in the lift! That’s the last thing I want to do’… ,” admits Maimie, with a rueful grin.

“So I would say that Nicole’s attitude to men and sex and relationships is very Samantha from Sex And The City. When I watch the repeats on TV I see Samantha and I go, ‘I must be playing her long-lost daughter or something!’”

Nicole’s best friend at work is Lucy (Laura Aikman). She loves her openness and warmth and sees her as a true friend.

In contrast, Midge (Annabel Scholey) infuriates her and sometimes (against her better judgement) she’s impatient with her PA pal, often poking fun at Midge’s many fanciful obsessions.

Meanwhile, Nicole’s relationship with her boss Rachel (Emily Bruni) is one of mutual respect.

It seems Nicole has made her decision that she will be fiercely independent and never require a man to make her happy. But could it be that this is one ice maiden just waiting to be melted?

For Yorkshire-born actress Maimie – who has also popped up in Doctors, Waking The Dead and was found murdered on a car bonnet in Taggart – one of the many appeals of a lead role in Personal Affairs was the chance to glam up.

“I’m a total scruffbag so the costumes have been quite a revelation to me because Nicole is so groomed and stylish. It’s kind of what I’d wear to go out in the evening for a special occasion, not to work.

“The heels took more getting used to but they are fun and really help with the way you strut and how you present yourself as the character.

“Saying that, it’s all a bit high maintenance. I think I’d rather wear overalls than have to get dressed up to the nines like this every day.”

Maimie was able to draw on her brief experience as a receptionist in the City to play Nicole. But she admits her stint as a temp wasn’t exactly her finest hour.

She says: “I was on reception for a day in a department doing hedge funds and I didn’t even know what hedge funds were, which wasn’t exactly the best of starts.

“So I was just sitting there slightly bewildered thinking, ‘I haven’t got a clue what’s going on’. I couldn’t really understand what anyone was talking about either.

“I think my mind works differently. Like when the art department on Personal Affairs give us props like spreadsheets and figure sheets, it’s all real and I’ll sit and look at them between takes and think, ‘What the hell is that?’ My brain just doesn’t compute those things very well.

“So, unlike Nicole at Hartmann Payne, on a business level I don’t think I’d last a second.”

PA to… Rock van Gelder (Robert Gant)
Take Note… The outsider trying to fit in
Most likely to… Tell you where to stick your filing
Strengths… So intelligent it hurts
Weaknesses… Her mind is most definitely not on the job

A shell-shocked Sid can’t believe she’s working as a PA. in an office where, gallingly, she knows she’s the most intelligent person by a mile. She should be running her own company, not making tea for someone else and, gasp, photocopying.

A repressed intellectual snob, gothic Sid is damaged goods and her own worst enemy.

A super achiever throughout school and university, she’s an uptight genius who doesn’t know how to communicate with people. For Sid, simple things like chatting about the weather are far harder than solving The Times crossword.

But her arrival at Hartmann Payne might not be quite what it seems…

“She’s a complete snob and can’t bear the fact she’s temping for these people, it almost pains her to say the word,” explains Dublin-born Ruth.

“Sid thinks it’s below her and isn’t afraid to let them know it, which is great fun for me to play.

“She’s quite bumbling as well and not very good at forming sentences out loud because she’s had her head stuck in books for years. Writing reams and reams for a thesis would be easy for her, interacting with other human beings isn’t.”

A child prodigy destined for greatness, Sid’s life has gone horribly wrong. Having suffered from severe depression and attempted suicide, she spent a short spell in an institution but now, hopefully, she’s on the road to recovery.

Emotionally damaged, she met her boyfriend Crawford (Al Weaver) when they were both institutionalised. It’s not a match made in heaven – he’s impotent and bipolar for starters.

“Sid credits Crawford with her rehabilitation, but as time goes on she becomes less sure of that and suddenly it’s like a spell has been broken. She’d been looking for a sense of belonging with Crawford because she’s always felt like an outsider, but I think the kind of belonging she eventually finds with the girls is much more sane and healthy,” says Ruth.

Much to her surprise, she finds a connection with her boss Rock Van Gelder (Robert Gant) through their mutual interest in astronomy: “They are both nerdy and he’s quite bemused that someone like her would be working as a temp. He doesn’t dislike her, but he’s not sure how much he likes her either.”

She also develops an unlikely friendship with Midge (Annabel Scholey). Even though personality-wise they are poles apart, the pair are connected by their shared fantasist approach to life.

In contrast, Sid dislikes Lucy (Laura Aikman) – dismissing her as nothing more than a chavvy moron.

“At first she doesn’t get on with anyone and says categorically that she isn’t there to make friends. So when friendship is extended from Midge it takes her a while to get her head around it because it’s totally strange to her,” explains Ruth, who starred in the critically-acclaimed Criminal Justice.

“I don’t think Sid is ever going to be like one of the Sex And The City girls and start talking about shoes or who she took home last night. But it’s a start in the right direction.

“In the beginning the girls don’t know what to make of her with her gruff manner, big black boots and goth outfits. But when Sid finds herself in big trouble they all rally together to help and she appreciates that.”

Despite Sid’s top-notch education, she can’t see that her arrogance and total lack of social skills deter people and have prevented her succeeding her whole life.

But, inside, there’s a romantic, darkly funny, sexy, virgin struggling to get out and desperate to connect.

She comes into the Hartmann Payne environment complete with chips on her shoulder and unexpectedly finds them being knocked off one at a time as she’s included and made to feel like part of the gang.

For Sid, Hartmann Payne and the relationships she forges there allow her to start her life anew. She may always be the geeky freaky girl but at least she belongs.

“She’s exceptional intellectually, but she’s one of those people who are super-intelligent but have absolutely no common sense or people skills. I’ve been to school with people like that and I probably was a little bit like that myself at one point,” admits Ruth, who graduated from the Samuel Beckett Centre drama school at Trinity College, Dublin and was chosen as the 2006 Irish Shooting Star at the Berlin International Film Festival, for her work in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto.

“Like Sid, I don’t think I’d cope especially well in an office situation because I hated school and that’s the nearest experience I’ve had to an office I can imagine. I think I’d find it difficult to be with the same people everyday.

“I’m not particularly girly so I suppose that’s a similarity too. But other than that I’m not snobby, intellectually nerdy or socially inept – I hope not anyway!”

BBC Press Release

PA to… Rock van Gelder (Robert Gant)
Take Note… Will she ever find equilibrium?
Most likely to… Make her bosses life uncomplicated
Strengths… She loves being a PA more than life itself
Weaknesses… Just what is she hiding?

Grace Darling’s entire raison d’etre is to quite simply be the best. Her route to Hartmann Payne is possibly the most surprising of all the girls, but her being there means more to Grace than any of them. For her, it truly is home.

It seems Grace has no greater ambition than to make her boss Rock Van Gelder’s (Robert Gant) life and work as painless and pleasant as possible.

“The way the show’s creator, Gabbie Asher, described her initially was as a ‘Mary Poppins meets Doris Day’ character, which kind of sums up that upbeat, sprightliness and the fact that Grace is quite the perfection of 1950s femininity,” explains Olivia.

“It’s quite an outdated view of women, but Grace is quite old-fashioned in that she’s happy to play the supportive work-wife role for Rock, rather than playing a more active part in the world of finance like Lucy or Jane.

“The main difference in her professional attitude from the other girls is that she actually doesn’t see being a PA as a temporary position.

“A lot of the others seem like they’re in transit and they want to go somewhere else, but Grace has always had a real desire to belong somewhere, to have a place within a community and to be accepted. So that’s what drives her desire to be professionally perfect and that’s why she’s almost studious in her attention to her friends.

“She’s the one that distributes tea and coffee and makes sure they have muffins in the morning. It’s very important to her that everyone is taken care of and that she feels needed.

“Rock and Grace work very well together because there’s a real kind of love there, but in a very platonic way, which I think brings a great charm to their relationship. They have a similar view on men and women’s roles and their place and how they should act professionally.

“Rock is similarly old-fashioned and there’s a moment when he says to Sid, ‘My PA should be like my picket fence, you’re like the outside of my building’. He wants the outside of that building to be perfect and pristine and to represent him and Grace is totally delighted to do that. Whereas Sid isn’t.”

Grace takes great pleasure in taking care of all the girls and privately sees herself as a mother figure in their lives. She is happy and content in her position at investment bank Hartmann Payne.

That is, until the impossible happens and Grace is left with no other option than to disappear…

“In the first episode you see a few levels of tension beginning to take their strain on Grace, but then it does go on to implode quite massively,” sighs Olivia.

“Poor Grace, she really doesn’t deserve it…”

There’s no doubt the office-based PAs are the best of friends and it seems, off-screen, the actresses who play them have become close buddies as well.

“We’ve all been living in a kind of Big Brother house in Merchant City and we spend every evening together as we are kind of our only friends here in Glasgow.

“So it has been a very tight group, which is funny because for the first week on set the crew were all teasing us that we were going to hate each other within a couple of weeks and we’d all be pulling each other’s hair-extensions out!,” jokes Olivia, who starred alongside Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust and played Lady Adelaide Midwinter in the first series of hit BBC One period drama Lark Rise To Candleford.

And it’s the basic themes of friendship and loyalty in Personal Affairs that really appeal to Olivia. That and the “strutting”.

She explains: “What I really like about this show is that to a certain extent it reminds me of American-style comedy dramas. Gabbie seems to have focussed on trying to bring friendships and fondness to the fore, in the way that Scrubs and Friends have done. And I love those kinds of shows.

“We also get to do lots of Sex And The City-style strutting in our heels which was really good fun to film,” she adds, enthusiastically.

“The moment when we first come out of the lift together was all done on steady cam. Then, as the four of us are strutting along through the office, someone hands me an important memo or something and it all looks very cool, glamorous and slick. I felt like we were in an episode of The West Wing!”

BBC Press Release

PA – Grace and Sid (Olivia Grant and Ruth Negga)

Texan-born Rock is something of a Fifties matinee idol and has very retro ideas on sexual politics in the workplace. He likes his women to be more Doris Day than Kerry Katona and very much sees his world as populated with the kind of perfection his PA Grace (Olivia Grant) carefully creates for him.

“Rock sees women in that wholesome, smiley and supportive Doris Day kind of role because that is the way he was raised. That’s the picture in his head from his upbringing and the way his mother looked after his father,” explains Robert.

“Grace fits the bill perfectly. She falls right into his old school notion of what it means to be a PA, a woman, everything.

“And then Sid comes along who couldn’t be more the antithesis of that. She’s the absolute opposite of Grace, from her physical demeanour and her sulky attitude, to the way she sees the world, yet bizarrely there’s a connection between them.”

Rock is Senior Vice President at Hartmann Payne investment bank, working in the private wealth management department.

He’s exceptionally good at his job and, strangely, he’s also a good manager – his team respect him and not just because it’s expected of them.

Rock has a wide range of interests but his main passion is astronomy, which we later discover is shared with his new PA, Sid (Ruth Negga).

Robert says: “It is more than just their interest in astronomy that bonds them, in some strange way they are both outcasts of a sort. Astronomy is the tip of the iceberg of whole other realms of Rock’s imagination that got covered over when he was young.

“As he recognises a kindred spirit something is awakened which is very surprising to him and, all of a sudden, he starts to question his choices in life.

“He’s suddenly found himself in this corporate structure and the creative, free-spirited part of him has been hidden away under this very straight suit.

“But he starts to discover those feelings are still very much there, if slightly neglected.”

For the Los Angeles-based actor – who played Professor Ben Bruckner in four series of the US version of Queer As Folk and has also made appearances in Friends, Nip/Tuck and CSI – the chance to come over to the UK to work was the opportunity of a lifetime.

“My last long term job was Queer As Folk and it was heavily dramatic and largely I had this whole HIV storyline. But I got my start doing more comedic stuff and I could see the role of Rock Van Gelder was almost tailor-made for me, so I was very excited to get it,” he reveals.

“When my agent said it was going to be filming in Glasgow I got even more excited because I’d never been to Scotland before. I was thrilled to be able to do what I love as a performer, with a character that sounded like a hell of a lot of fun and to get to have this adventure in Scotland all along with it.”

He admits he thoroughly enjoyed his Glasgow experience and even the dubious British summer didn’t get him down.

“I am originally from Florida and had plenty of sunshine and heat growing up, so I’m a big fan of cooler weather and Glasgow has had plenty of that,” he grins.

“To be honest it hasn’t bothered me much. I like grey, overcast days and kind of enjoy them because they are such a change for me.

“The only slight downside about being in Scotland is that sometimes I really cannot understand what anyone is saying. I either have to ask them again to clarify it or I just let it go and hope it wasn’t anything too important.”

While Robert’s own outlook may be a million miles away from repressed Rock’s, the actor insists he can empathise with the change of mindset his character experiences within the series.

“I did my first national commercial as a kid aged ten, I loved tap dancing and was in a soft shoe routine with Bob Hope when I was 11.

“I wanted to be a performer from day one, but ended up going to law school because of conditioning I suppose. It was the way I was brought up.

“So I relate to Rock’s journey a lot actually because I too was willing to put aside what I cared about and what I was really passionate about in order to conform.

“Looking back I’m glad I got the education I did, but, hell, I’m more glad I am where I am now. This is the best job in the world!”

BBC Press Release

PA – Midge (Annabel Scholey)

He may be married to Evie, the daughter of head honcho Leo Hartmann, but that still doesn’t make Simon what you’d call a devoted husband.

Yes, he enjoys the kudos and status that marrying the boss’s daughter brings, but monogamous and loving are not words often used when describing this notoriously ruthless and cold-hearted vice-president.

“He’s a terrible Lothario and if there were such a thing as a professional Lothario then I think he’d be the one doing diplomas in it and probably running courses in it as well,” laughs Darren.

“His sexual prowess is something he is noted for so I don’t think his marriage is especially high on his list of priorities. But I do think that’s where a certain level of his arrogance comes from because he’s basically family.

“He has married himself into the position he holds and is well aware of the status that gives him over his peers within the company. It’s all about money and wealth for Simon and being able to display that money and wealth for all to see.

“In a way you can only admire him, because anyone who has half the attitude and indifference he does, to be that unapologetic for who you are is pretty impressive.”

But, as well as having a reputation as an emotion-free serial adulterer, Simon is also in love with Midge (Annabel Scholey), his PA.

Despite his numerous affairs and indiscretions he’d never make a move on her. He genuinely loves Midge and couldn’t bear to corrupt her in any way.

“For Simon probably the closest to any real human emotion he has is for his own PA. So his normal approach is very much turned on its head when it comes to dealing with this particular individual.

“I think Simon has feelings for Midge on a level hitherto unknown by him and that makes for a very possessive side to his relationship with her,” explains Darren.

If Simon can’t have Midge, he doesn’t want anyone else to either. So when his fame-hungry PA is offered a place in the final 12 of TV talent show, unbeknownst to Midge he makes a sneaky call to the show’s producers to ensure her musical dream doesn’t become a reality.

“These feelings are not something he makes known to Midge for fear of upsetting the status quo. And maybe because he doesn’t know how to make his feelings known, which would be unlike him in any other area of his life because he is a very smart and calculating person.

“With Midge he sees someone who is pure and such purity and innocence are long gone in his time on this planet. He inhabits a very cynical place in this world albeit a very successful one.”

With ten years under his belt of both writing and starring in comedies such as Smack The Pony, Kiss Me Kate, Green Wing and Saxondale, plus a stint in the US in the NBC sitcom Watching Ellie with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Steve Carell, Darren knows a good script when he sees one.

“The first episode of Personal Affairs is probably one of the fastest moving and high paced scripts I’ve ever read. It takes off and doesn’t stop.

“I can’t think of anything I’ve read for a while that really grabs you like a good book, where you want to keep turning the page with that burning desire to know what happens next.

“It’s a very slick, fast moving thing, with lots of surprises and it gets very uncomfortable and messy for most of the people involved,” laughs Darren.

However, the 35 year old actor admits there is one downside to working on Personal Affairs – it has made him feel old before his time.

“We have such a fresh, vibrant, young cast which is a great energy to be around, but at the same time it’s strange to suddenly realise you are now one of the oldies. Now I hear them all talking and there are so many film and music references that I just don’t get or understand.

“On one of the first days I was chatting in between scenes with one of the younger actresses when I happened to mention the film A Fistful Of Dollars and she didn’t have the faintest idea what I was talking about.

“At that point I suddenly felt for the first time on the wrong side of 30… .what happened?” he adds, with a sigh.

“I used to be the fresh-faced young buck. Where did all the time go?”

BBC Press Release

PA – Nicole (Maimie McCoy)

Born to wealth, privilege and education, Rachel is a searing intellect, possesses an extraordinary business ability and has an extremely unselfconscious and eccentric attitude to life. Combining that with a look and a demeanour that can only be described as “ageing toff meets Amy Winehouse”, she’s a no-nonsense force to be reckoned with at Hartmann Payne.

“It’s not everyday you get asked to play a mad upper-class lesbian who wears vintage Chanel and speaks Latin most of the time,” says Emily, with a grin.

“I have to say we’ve worked very hard on Rachel’s look and I would say the main elements of my performance are my hairdo and my almost belt-like mini skirts.

“The hairdo is a cross between a posh toff and Amy Winehouse. It is very big hair and as a junior member of the cast – who shall remain nameless – told me, it’s also rather ageing.

“We wanted Rachel to look posh and imperious but slightly slutty – although she’s not a sexy person at all.

“She’s not unlike actors I’ve seen from bygone generations in that she’s larger than life and not afraid of being very camp and over-the-top. I suppose she’s based on an amalgam of people I know, but one person who has definitely ended up in Rachel is actually a relative of mine.

“I had a mad Italian grandmother who was rather stylish and used to wear clumpy Gucci shoes with amazing handbags and her way of being warm was always to be rather brusque and grumpy.”

As Emily explains, Rachel has never had a dark day in her entire life. She takes life upfront and full on and, from her very first scene, it quickly becomes clear that this grandiose businesswoman is an one-off.

“I have a scriptwriter friend who always tells me to look at the way a character is introduced because that determines your impact in the story. If it’s a very well written introductory scene everything about that character should be contained in that first moment.

“Rachel’s first moment is her flashing her breasts at a bunch of builders in the street and running off guffawing to herself. So I thought it doesn’t get much better or more high impact than that. She’s just someone who is entirely without fear.”

Whilst she may be unpredictable, Rachel is a good boss and with her PA Nicole shares a warm, genuine relationship based on mutual respect.

“It’s strangely maternal but only in a very indirect way because Rachel’s not a maternal person at all. But there is a lot of respect there, maybe because she sees some of her younger self in Nicole.

“However, generally when it comes to the PAs, Rachel does behave like a man sometimes. She’s highly predatory, but in not in an indirect way like women are. She is pretty blatant and touches bottoms and makes lewd comments. She’s like a lad basically, a Latin-talking lad.”

Despite her playfulness, Rachel is in a long-standing, loving, monogamous lesbian relationship and is also in the fortunate position to be working because she loves it and she’s good at it. She sure doesn’t need the money.

“When I first read the script what I loved about Personal Affairs is that it’s definitely not bland, plus I loved how entirely unselfconscious Rachel was and that she doesn’t pander to other people’s neuroses and isn’t even sensitive to them.

“She’s like a bull in a china shop and I was kind of in the mindset already when I got the part as I’d just played a mad upper-class nymphomaniac in a play called Ring Round The Moon in the West End, which I thought was a step in the right direction towards Rachel.”

However, while Rachel is at home wherever she rests her vintage Chanel clutch-bag, actress Emily admits she’d struggle with office life.

“I’m quite hyperactive and need to be on the move. I wouldn’t be able to sit still for a whole day. No way. I’d rather be a bicycle courier than sat in an office,” says Emily, who has also starred in Auf Wiedersehen Pet and played the lead in historical drama Catherine The Great.

Her next project is for the big screen, a movie called Secrets Of Love which is due to shoot next spring in New Orleans.

“It’s a dark strange story, a thriller about a very corrupt cop played by Malcolm McDowell. And yet again I am playing a lesbian who is slightly on the edge,” she adds, laughing. “However, she’s not posh and she’s in a very different world to Rachel. There definitely won’t be big hair and vintage sugar-mouse-pink Chanel miniskirts in that one!”

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PA – Robbie (Jamie Davis)

Having just starred alongside Angelina Jolie in the big screen weepfest A Mighty Heart – the true story of the search for kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl – it’s perhaps not surprising that, despite bagging the Breakout Performance Award at the Cannes Film Festival, for her next role Archie Punjabi was looking for something a bit less emotionally draining.

So when the script for Personal Affairs arrived she realised it was her perfect opportunity to have some fun.

“I was very keen after A Mighty Heart to do a little bit of comedy and let my hair down,” admits Archie.

“I wanted to have a bit of fun because Mighty Heart was so depressing. It was a brilliant thing to do, but it was such an emotional thing as well so it’s quite nice with this to wipe the slate clean again and have a laugh.

“That’s not to say that Personal Affairs is just a comedy because it’s not – as it goes on it becomes very dark and mysterious and, to be honest, I had never read anything like it.”

In Personal Affairs Archie plays Jane Lesser, the youngest Hartmann Payne Vice President and that, coupled with the fact that she’s a woman, makes her a serious high-flyer.

Not the most approachable or warm character, Jane acts with utter undisguised superiority towards the PAs. She knows exactly how to wind the girls up and knows far more about what’s going on in their personal lives than she lets on.

Her relationship with Grace (Olivia Grant) begins with antagonism – Jane’s feminist ideals means she’s easily wound up by Grace’s view on sexual politics in the office.

But a mutual respect develops when Grace is seconded to help Jane with an important client.

“I don’t think Jane trusts a lot of people and I think in many ways she has lost sight of who she is,” says Archie.

“I come from quite an academic background and a lot of my friends have gone on to work in investment banking so I know that world.

“The thing about these people is that they are really nice, loving and fun people when you get them out of their work. But it’s the pressure of the job that makes them very focused, hardworking and maybe not a barrel of laughs in the office.

“For these people it’s all or nothing and everyday their job is on the line and then five years or so down the line you see these people and you realise they have aged so much, purely from stress.

“So we really only see this very serious, business-like side to Jane to start with but, hopefully as the story unravels, we’ll discover a more human side to her as well.”

Whilst Archie may have achieved success in the competitive film world, the Edgware-born actress insists she wouldn’t last five seconds in the back-stabbing world of the banking industry.

“Oh God it would be hell,” she exclaims, grinning. “I think this industry is bad enough but that one is a hell of a lot tougher, particularly for women. To the point where to have a family and settle down is really hard because it’s not nine to five.

“I’ve heard of people going in at six in the morning and getting home at one at night, then they have three or four hours sleep before it all starts over again. It’s tough and I think that’s why Jane looks at the PAs sometimes and thinks – ‘you have no idea. You just come in, dress up, have a gossip and go back home’. In Jane’s head they are so not like what women like her are trying to achieve.”

Romance-wise, Jane looks like she’s got the lot. She has a gorgeous boyfriend called Richard (Jeremy Sheffield) who is a handsome doctor working in war zones. All the girls in the office love him because he’s really good looking and a genuinely nice bloke.

So why won’t Jane marry him? He’s asked her six times after all…

“Needless to say the PAs don’t understand why these two are in a relationship, but she adores him and he’d do anything for her. I think the problem is that they don’t spend a huge amount of time together, mainly because of their jobs.”

With a CV that takes in everything from providing voices for Postman Pat to the title role in hard-hitting and controversial drama Yasmin, Archie is clearly not someone who wants to be pigeonholed.

She says: “One of the things my teachers always used to say to me was that I have a very short span of concentration. Even if I was doing the most amazing thing in the world I’d just switch off and become bored on sets when I wasn’t really excited.

“So I made a policy that, where possible, I try and do things where my mind is constantly ticking away and I’m excited. Thankfully – touch wood – it seems to be working so far!”

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PA – Lucy (Laura Aikman)

A selfish, lazy, posh pig of a man who owes his considerable success not down to the contacts he brings to the Hartmann Payne table but the money Lucy (Laura Aikman) makes for him and his clients.

“Iain is a posh yobbo who does nothing and is a law unto himself,” says Mark.

“He has been given this job because of a link with the CEO Leo Hartmann, but he’s clueless and it’s Lucy who does all the work.

“He takes all the credit, yet in reality he hasn’t been anywhere near the office and is off getting bladdered abroad somewhere.”

A true bon vivant, Iain is defined mainly by his absences. He spends a considerable amount of time away drinking his way around Monte Carlo, Paris, Cannes, Aspen… wherever, as long as there’s a minibar and it’s as far away from the office as possible.

Quite simply, Iain can’t function without Lucy. She’s his lifeline. But theirs is an unequal partnership and Lucy is always the loser.

“Lucy covers for him both on the financial side as well as on the rare occasions he does come into the office when he’s drunk and he’s trying to wee on the sofa or something! She’s the one who has to sort him out. He’s just an upper-class twit really, isn’t he? I’d say that’s a pretty accurate description of him,” chuckles Mark.

“I did really enjoy playing Iain and it kind of appealed to me that he’s never actually there in office and is off getting drunk and womanising instead.

“Most of the time he just checks in with Lucy by video phone, so filming for me was basically me on my lonesome speaking to the camera by myself. Not that I want any sympathy…,” he sighs, with a grin.

“The other thing that attracted me to Iain is that he’s posh and it was nice to get paid to act that. Because a lot of the time as an actor you just get paid to be similar to what you’re like in real life.

“So, surprise surprise, I don’t get offered posh bloke roles very often. I’ve done a few before, but I think people see you as one thing and forget you’ve done lots of other stuff as well, so it’s nice to be able to show what I can do on this.

“Not that I’m complaining. Being typecast isn’t so bad – at least it means you’re working,” he adds.

“But ultimately Iain’s not someone I can relate to at all. I come from a council estate and I’ve got a work ethic. I don’t really drink either so all in all he’s the total opposite of me. You can’t be selfish and lazy when you’ve got three kids.

“But I do think he’d be a good laugh if you met him and you’d definitely have a good night out with Iain.”

Whilst he’s never spent any time in an office himself, the Yorkshire-born actor suggests that office politics aren’t that different to the clashes of egos on film sets.

“There can be rivalries, although I’ve never seen it as bad as the goings on at Hartmann Payne, but it depends on the job really.

“Personal Affairs had a lovely cast and everyone was really happy, but a lot of the time in casts you get someone who stirs it up and creates an atmosphere. There’s usually one person where you think, ‘Oh God, don’t let me get me stuck with them!’

“So I don’t think office life would suit me at all and I’d go mad after a while with all the internal politics that goes on. I hate all that. I’d probably just end up like Iain and be going off to get drunk all the time!”

Not that Mark needs to go looking for a change of career. He’s one of the country’s most in-demand comedic actors starring in the likes of Northern Lights and the acclaimed Hughie Green, Most Sincerely.

And these days it seems he can’t even go to the loo without someone recognising him.

“I think the most bizarre place I’ve ever been recognised was in the toilet at Newquay Zoo,” he remembers. “I came out the door and some idiot was stood there with a camera taking a picture, which was nice of him. I mean why would anyone want a picture of me walking out of the Gents? I’m just grateful that at least he wasn’t photographing me with me bits out at the flippin’ urinal!”

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