Tell me a little bit about Nicki Jennings’ look?
I love the eighties look, particularly the amazing power suits! I had my hair cut for this role. It was so long and I've never had short hair before and I love it. I'm bringing back the bob I hope.

What are you finding about the sets and designs interesting, delving back in the era?

Being an actor is just dressing up, playing pretend and delving into different worlds. The set design completely immerses you into the world, which is helpful as I was born in the nineties! I'm a little bit obsessed with the wired phones - I kept picking them up, and pretending, like a child, to talk on them like I'm at playschool because I just love them so much.

Can you describe Nicki Jennings?

Nicki Jennings is determined, clever and gritty. She's very determined to go up in the world and to be seen and listened to, and she's good at her job. She doesn’t come from a well-to-do background. She's working class and her dad’s a criminal and she chose to go against how he was.

Is Nicki Jennings based on a real person?

Not quite, Nicki Jennings is based on a number of women in the police at the time. There were actually lots of women in the Flying Squad because, as women, they were least suspected when on surveillance.

Can you tell me how the dynamic between Jennings, Brightwell (Emun Elliott), and Boyce (Hugh Bonneville) evolves?

The three of them - Jennings, Brightwell and Boyce - are completely different characters and that’s what makes it work. Boyce oversees the whole thing. Jennings is the quick, clever one that always wants to get going and Brightwell basically… Brightwell’s really chilled out. He's been doing it such a long time that he calms Jennings a lot of the time.

What did you find most enjoyable, and most challenging about playing the role?

The cast of The Gold is truly quite amazing, it was so incredible to watch the rest of the cast at work. It was really a lesson! What I found the most difficult about playing Jennings is that I find a lot women come in and play a feisty character, and in doing so they try and emulate men. I didn’t want her to be that, I thought it was very important that she's still feminine. You can still be powerful and feminine. You don’t have to just ‘bloke it up’. Jennings is feisty but she still wears nice clothes and makeup, and I kind feel that there's power in that.

What do you like about Jennings?

I think Jennings is great. She's gritty. I'm a bit feisty myself so I understand that feeling of wanting to be respected and to be heard. She's a nice character to play.

What do you find fascinating about it? What grabbed you about it?

What I liked about the scripts, and the story in general, is that there is physical gold. It’s something you just don’t hear of anymore, and the fact that it got smelted down and dispersed, to the point where any gold that now exists, after the eighties will likely have a little bit of Brink’s-Mat in it. Go and check your jewellery now! You’ve probably got Brink’s-Mat on your wrist or in your ears. I found that fascinating.

As an actor what grabbed you about the script and the craft of his writing?

Neil’s script is so intricate and amazing, and it’s such an ensemble piece. There are so many people involved, not just the robbers and the robbery itself, but the police, and the bank managers, and the people on the street, and the wives: it’s so intertwined that you have to be a good script writer in order to tell this story.

Have you got into all the eighties music?

I like to create a playlist for each character I play, so I’ve created one for Jennings. She’s about 30 in the drama and so would have been born in the fifties or sixties, so she would have ranged from stuff that her dad played her – perhaps a bit of Elvis and The Beatles - then going into like her own stuff like Bowie and ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’. There's some decent songs on there!

Three reasons to watch The Gold?

Because. The. Eighties.