|
 Gaynor
Faye plays Anna Williams
Actress Gaynor Faye may be known
for her multitude of roles, from Coronation Street's Judy Mallett to
Georgia Lovett in Between The Sheets, but at the moment, she's probably
best known as queen of the ice. When filming for The Chase started,
Gaynor was deep in training for Dancing On Ice with partner Dan Whiston,
and every week she would combine filming on set, rehearsing on the rink,
being a mum and chasing down to London for the live Saturday night show.
"It was hard work,"
she admits with wry understatement. "If someone had said to me that
I was going to do both the ice dancing and filming The Chase together, I
would have said that it was impossible. But I love being busy and it was
thrilling to be creating great drama and being part of a fantastic live
entertainment show every Saturday night.
"I thrive on work and being
busy. Combining the two was physically, mentally and creatively
challenging. It fulfilled everything in me. I should have been on my
back but with all those endorphins flowing, it gave me great
energy."
But even when she and Dan kept
winning and the cameras kept rolling, Gaynor was hiding a personal
tragedy. Early in the year, her beloved nan fell ill and died just
before the ice-dancing final.
"To win was
fantastic," she grins. "It was fabulous. The best ending to
the best journey and it was a very magical moment in my life. But I feel
I worked really hard for it. It was so hard and so time-consuming, and
then, with nan dying, it was strangely cathartic to win. I felt I had
achieved something through all that effort.
Gaynor Faye as Anna with her
screen dad George (Keith Barron) "And I had such great support,
particularly from my family and friends. I couldn't keep them away.
Every week I could hear them shouting for me and they frequently drowned
Phillip Schofield out! And viewers seemed to really enjoy watching our
progress. They went on the journey with us. But I couldn't have done any
of it without great support, especially from my fiancé, Mark – he was
amazing."
Since her triumph on ice, Gaynor
has hung up her skates and returned to Leeds full time to her family and
to finish filming The Chase, in which she plays Anna Williams. She's a
vet and the eldest daughter of head vet George Williams (Keith Barron).
Together, they run the practice
with Anna's husband, Tom (Nicholas Gleaves). As well as working in
practice, Anna and Tom have three children and are expecting their
fourth imminently. It's a chaotic and boisterous mix, with family and
business both housed under one roof.
Gaynor describes her new
character as "a warm, family-orientated woman. She's moralistic and
the sort of person you'd like to have as your friend because she'd never
tell your secrets, especially if they would hurt someone else. She's a
salt-of-the-Earth character who sees good in everyone but her morals can
be slightly old-fashioned."
|
