Former Emmerdale star Roxanne Pallett reveals her role as a robbery victim in ITV1's daytime series Crime Stories (Tuesday, November 27)... What were you told about your character before filming? "Because the show is almost entirely improvised, all I knew about my character, Linda, was that she finds an intruder in her kitchen with a knife, while her live-in boyfriend, Danny, is on a lads' night out. My brief was that Linda is 21, neurotic and over-sensitive. She also craves attention from her boyfriend and will do anything to get it." Anything? Does this tell us something about the crime? "The story has a real twist about half way through - which I didn't know until we were filming! When there's a script you know what's coming next, but with Crime Stories everything is really spontaneous." Crime Stories is also unusual in that DI Jane Preston is played by real-life retired police officer Jane Antrobus. What does this add to the series? "Because Jane is a real policewoman and I didn't know how the story ends, it really felt like I was being interviewed in a real police station. Hopefully this makes it really authentic and exciting for the viewers. Crime Stories is a refreshing and gritty docu-style drama." How was 2012 been for you? "I've not stopped this year; I've been really busy! It's been really great and I've been back-to-back with different roles. Each project is really different from the one before, which is really refreshing." When did you know you wanted to be an actress?? "I knew when I was about four years' old. I used to pretend to be dead at the bottom of the stairs, but my mum and gran just walked over me! My poor mum - what I put her through. I once faked a stomach ache to get off school and by that afternoon I had my appendix out!"
