Interview with Sharon Small
Interview with Sharon Small, who plays Dr. Brigitte Rayne in Trust Me
Published: 26 July 2017
The most important thing for me was to go around the actual A&E department in Edinburgh. Everyone is always moving around, but not that quickly - it’s less dramatic than you think.
What attracted you to this project?
I liked the character and the premise of the piece - I don’t think we’ve seen this before. And everyone is like an armchair detective, everyone is an armchair actor or doctor, so I thought that people would get off on that and think, gosh what would I do in that circumstance? The audience are the people who are privy to the truth and not us. With my character, Brigitte, I like her neediness, her sassiness - she’s fun and quick-fire talking - and quite honestly I rather fancied myself as a doctor [laughs].
How would you describe your character?
Brigitte is a good person; she’s sassy and is a really good doctor. She has got some issues, but she is trying her best to run this ward and with great intentions, which I think a lot of NHS doctors are.
How did you prepare for the role?
I grew my hair so that I could tie it up - normally I have short hair. We had a fantastic medical training day with Dan and got to do airways and cannulas and stitching and things like that, I loved that. The most important thing for me was to go around the actual A&E department (or ED department as I now know it’s called) in Edinburgh. We met this fantastic doctor - just watching him and really getting to observe what goes on in a ward, the dynamic, what people do and noticing that people are always looking at folders, everyone’s always collaborating and talking to each other. Everyone is always moving around, a lot more than you think and not that quickly. It’s less dramatic than you think.
Is your character challenging to play?
She was. Similarly in something that Jodie mentioned, I had quite a lot of medical jargon to say quite quickly, but I had less of the procedural stuff to do in terms of operational things. As the character is more and more revealed I had to make sure that I took care of how that happened, and that it was subtly done.
What makes a hospital a good arena for a drama?
It’s an ever-changing landscape, a hospital. Every new sort of event that you’re presented with means that you’re having to make life-saving decisions. People’s lives really are at stake, and honestly, my little taste of pretending that I was an ED doctor made me feel quite powerful. If I could fix people so that they survived, that would be an amazing ability.
What are the biggest challenges that you have faced so far during filming?
Saying the medical words Metronidazole - Met-ron-ida-zole, Metron-i-dazole - and trying to make scrubs look even remotely interesting, I don’t rock scrubs like Jodie does, I’m way too curvy for that!
What do you hope audiences will take away from this drama?
I hope that they’ll find themselves in that dilemma of wanting Cath/Ally to succeed, because she’s a good person and she ironically is brilliant at the job. I’m hoping that they’ll see the dilemma that she has, and as you want her to keep succeeding, it means she’s going to keep compromising people as she goes, as well as herself.
Character biographies
Cath Hardacre/Dr. Ally Sutton (Jodie Whittaker)
Everything about Cath says that she is honest, hardworking and uncompromising. In a well intentioned meeting with the hospital board Cath loses her job - and with that the means to provide for her daughter. In a moment of desperation, Cath steals her best friend’s identity and applies for a job in Edinburgh, adopting the persona Dr. Ally Sutton. As Ally, she becomes a trusted member of the emergency department and against her better judgement falls for her colleague, Dr Andy Brenner.
Dr. Andy Brenner (Emun Elliott)
Andy is a consultant in the emergency department, a doctor whose professional and charming manner puts even the most nervous patient at ease. Tired of playing second fiddle to his career, Andy’s ex-wife ended their marriage, taking their children with her. To his surprise, Andy soon finds himself falling for Ally, who is his intellectual counterpart. She represents the light at the end of the tunnel after his painful separation and he finally feels he’s getting his life back on track after the acrimonious split from his ex-wife. But Andy doesn't know Ally as well as he thinks he does...
Dr. Brigitte McAdams (Sharon Small)
If anyone is going to survive the sinking ship of the emergency department, it is Brigitte. She is the clinical lead in the department but she considers it a poisoned chalice of endless paperwork. Openly admitting that she is only in the profession to keep her daughters in private school, Brigitte has fallen out of love with treating patients and lacks confidence when she must take care of a serious medical case. Brigitte’s slightly bonkers approach towards medicine means that her team rally around her when they sense that she is losing her nerve.
Karl (Blake Harrison)
Karl was on the path to making something of his life, but it all came crashing down after he lost his job. With his contract severed and his debt increasing, Karl found himself in the throes of alcohol addiction. His relationship with Cath suffered as a result and they separated shortly afterwards. Since then, Karl has been in a constant cycle in and out of alcohol rehabilitation. When Cath moves to Edinburgh, it gives him the push to change his life for the better. Karl realises how much he misses his daughter Molly being present in his life and vows to do all that he can to be closer to her. But will Karl’s good behaviour be rewarded with the family reunion he longs for?
