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