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| REBECCA
ATKINSON ON SHAMELESS |
Rebecca
Atkinson hasn't exactly adopted the normal route into acting.
Traditionally, the wannabe thespian goes to drama school, spends several
years 'resting', waiting tables and appearing in local panto, before
finally getting a job as a corpse on Casualty. Not so Atkinson, who was
studying dance when she was given a role in Shameless,
Channel 4's award-winning drama, at the depressingly precocious age of
19. Now she is something of a TV veteran, with the fourth series of the
show transmitting in January.
Atkinson plays Karen Jackson, an essentially kind-hearted teenager who
uses sex to get what she wants, whether it's a job, a home or… well…
sex. But for Karen, life is about to take an interesting turn, when a
new arrival on the Chatsworth Estate catches her eye. For Atkinson, too,
it presents a new challenge, with her character set to become a central
component of the forthcoming series.
For one who plays so brazen a character, in person Atkinson is
surprisingly softly spoken: amidst the hubbub of Channel 4's winter
programme launch, it is occasionally difficult to hear her answers. Such
shyness is unexpected in a girl who's had to do more than her share of
intimate scenes in a fledgling career. Ahead of the new series, she
talks about dealing with the first flushes of fame, what it's like to
film a love scene, and why the OAPs of Salford are her biggest fans.
You landed this job when you were absurdly young. How long had
you been out of drama school?
I was still at musical theatre college – I was in my second
year when I got the part. So I finished off college during filming. I
was very, very lucky to get the job. Because I wasn't at drama school,
that made it easier, because I was training to be a dancer, so it was
another step removed from the whole pressure of going out and
auditioning for jobs all the time.
Had
you done any TV work before Shameless?
Yeah, during my teens I did Children's Ward and Coronation
Street – just bits and bobs, going in for a couple of episodes. So I
had the experience as a child, really, and then decided that I was going
to concentrate on dancing. So getting the job on Shameless just changed
my career plans totally.
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When
you filmed the first series, did all of you know you were making
something that was going to be a major success?
I pretty much knew it would be big when I was told it was a Paul Abbott
drama. When I heard that, I knew I had to get the audition – this was
the guy who'd done Clocking Off, State of Play, Linda Green: he had this
amazing track record, so there was automatically a buzz about it. On top
of that, when I got there and met everyone who was playing each
character, I saw how good the cast was and how well all the stories came
together, I just knew this was going to be on a different level.
Shameless has become so high profile. What's it like being
recognised by the public?
It's quite weird, but it's been really positive. People are
full of praise and compliments, it's really flattering how much people
like the show. And it's gratifying when they say that we're all really
different from the characters we play, which means we must be doing
something right. So it can be a real ego boost.
Obviously a lot of your scenes are with David Threlfall and
Maggie O'Neil. Have you learned a lot from them?
Oh definitely. Working with people of that quality, David and Maggie, or
James McAvoy, to be on set with these people, you've just got to make
yourself a sponge and try and absorb everything, just see how they do
things. There's no better education than watching people like that do
their thing.
Do you all hang out together a lot off-set?
Absolutely. This year especially. As you'll see when the series
comes out, the show's expanded again, and there's an influx of younger
people coming in, like the Maguires. So we've all gone out together
loads. I think that helps, actually, it adds something to the atmosphere
of the show.
You're from Manchester yourself – do you know places like the
Chatsworth Estate?
Oh yeah, absolutely. I grew up in Salford, and friends of mine
lived on estates just like that. I've hung around places like that all
my life.
What's it like filming on the estate where much of the programme
is shot?
The people who love on the estate are such big fans of the
show. They really are so enthusiastic about it, and they get involved
– they’re always coming to help out, offering to be extras. They're
dead good like that, really good fun.
What do you think of your character, Karen?
Well, so far, she's been a little bit two-dimensional really,
in the respect that she'll flirt with anything with a pulse, and that's
pretty much all we know about her character. I think she's probably
lacking attention and affection, which is why she behaves the way she
does. But this series things really start to happen for her. She gets
involved with this new character, Jamie Maguire. She becomes a lot more
central to the story, and you get to see her relationship with Jamie
develop. It's a side of her we've never seen before, and as an actress
it's fantastic for me to get to do that.
Do you find it embarrassing to do sex scenes? After all, Karen's
been in more than a few!
Yeah, absolutely. And it never really gets any easier. You
always get that sickly feeling in your stomach. You do feel really
vulnerable. It's embarrassing to be half-naked in front of the crew. I
don't think about however many people are going to be watching it, just
about who's in the room at the time.
Is it awkward when your mum and dad watch it?
Yeah, I guess that sort of behaviour, the stuff Karen gets up
to, is pretty alien to them. But my parents have been so supportive,
they're great. My dad's kept a little scrapbook of everything, he's so
proud, and so's my mum. They'd never say a word against it. My nan tells
all of her friends, too, she's got half the OAPs of Salford watching
Shameless. I'm worried the programme's more colourful language and
content will give them heart attacks!
Shameless returns on Channel 4 on Tuesday 9th January at 10pm.
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