Olivia Hallinan | Corsets | Press Gang | Lark Rise

Lark Rise to Candleford - the End is Nigh
Olivia Hallinan is the sexy actress who plays Laura in Lark Rise to Candleford. Olivia Hallinan studied Drama and English at Manchester University for three years. So she is intelligent, attractive and a sublime British actress. The current series of Lark Rise to Candleford comes to an end this week when the tenth and final episode is shown on BBC1. The programme has been a huge success for the BBC and a second series has already been commissioned. I firmly believe that this success is down to the brilliant acting of Olivia Hallinan as the main character Laura Timmins.

Some Strange Connections
In a television interview Olivia Hallinan said that Lark to Candleford was filmed on location just outside Bristol, which is the largest city in the south west of England and is located between Somerset and Gloucestershire. The set was built from scratch from some farm buildings. The interior scenes where filmed in a luxury warehouse, whatever that is! She also expressed some relief at not being type cast as the lesbian from Sugar Rush, saying that people now recognised her as the girl from the costume drama instead. The most interesting point that Olivia Hallinan made was that she had plenty of work in the pipeline. Hopefully we will be seeing quite a lot more of Olivia on our television screens this year. In another interview, Julia Sawalha answered very similar questions to those put to Olivia Hallinan, obviously created from information available in the BBC press pack. This was disappointing as nothing new was learnt about the making of Lark Rise to Candleford. Most of the interview was about the discomfort caused by wearing a corset during filming. Julia Sawalha is probably best known for her role as the over bearing editor Lynda Day in the children’s programme Press Gang. It was a Bafta Award Winning children's comedy drama series about the running of a school newspaper, the Junior Gazette. It ran from 1989 - 1993 and included some other faces that you might recognise. Paul Reynolds was the Thatcherite, Colin Mathews and he also appears in Lark Rise to Candleford as the beer salesman. Reynolds also made a few appearances in the highly acclaimed sitcom Absolutely Fabulous with who Julia Sawalha played the role of studious Saffron Monsoon, alongside Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. Reynolds and Sawalha also crossed paths in the comedy series "Time Gentlemen Please" which starred Al Murray as the pub landlord.

Cheeky Face
In Episode 9 of Lark Rise to Candleford in the Post Office scene where everyone is sat around the table discussing a piece of mysterious needlework found at a graveside, Dorcas Lane tells Laura off for making up wild fantasy's due to reading too many books. This is when we get to see Laura Timmins' 'cheeky face'. It was the best moment in the entire series acted with sheer brilliance by the cast. The episode suffered the same fate as many of the earlier ones. Dawn French's character is the weakest link in this series. I'm sure the BBC thought that French would add some humour to the programme but her acting is terrible and has ruined the entire series. If the BBC wants to improve this programme for the second series they have to give this role to someone who can act or alter the storylines.

Is Olivia Hallinan a Lesbian in Real Life?
I have seen quite a lot of forum posts and questions asking if Olivia Hallinan is a lesbian in real life. This is a tough question because you never know for sure what people get up to behind closed doors. In interviews Olivia Hallinan has always said that she is straight and so that is the answer. There is no reason to doubt this answer at the present time. I’m not sure if people will be pleased or disappointed about this! It is a compliment to her great acting that people were very convinced by her performance. In one interview I read she said that she just imagined that Lenora Crichlow (Sugar) was Brad Pitt. I read some interesting posts on a forum recently where people suggested that you would not employ a criminal to play a criminal as part of this argument. This is quite a good response but it is human nature to wonder about a television personality’s sexuality particularly if they portray a gay character on the screen. Michael Obiara is a straight actor that plays the character of a gay hotel receptionist in BBC1’s Hotel Babylon. He does this brilliantly and is very convincing in his role as Ben Trueman. Michael began his career at the age of seven and starred in several children’s television programmes during his rise to fame.

Well that is everything up to date for now. Remember to watch the last episode of Lark Rise to Candleford. It will be your last chance to see Olivia Hallinan in her corset for quite a while, unless you buy the DVD of course, or you record the series – that’s a good idea. If anything remotely interesting comes to light in respect of Olivia Hallinan I will get it scribbled down and posted here.

Cheers.