Sarah Manners joins The Bill as tomboyish PC Kirsty Knight, the feisty new area car driver who is set to clash with Sergeant Stone

Were you a fan of The Bill before you joined?
I hadn’t seen it recently but when the meeting came up I tuned in and I was so impressed by the new look of The Bill. Obviously when you join a show you’re expected to say very positive things about the programme you are on, but I can wholeheartedly say that I think the show looks brilliant. I’m so proud to be part of it – it’s so stylish, the music – it’s just brilliant.

Did you do much research for the role of PC Kirsty Knight?
I have a friend who’s a sergeant in Hackney, East London, and I went out with a couple of her PCs. There was one incident with a couple of guys, drugs were involved, we found their stash and we had to go and raid where they were. And they were big! It was so exciting because everyone thought I was CID. They wanted me to go up first, because I was wearing this Metropolitan Police stab vest, parka, jacket, hoodie, jeans and trainers. And this guy says ‘Right, CID, if you want to go up first.’ And I said ‘No, no, I’m observing, I’m observing’. I didn’t say I was an actress because I was pretending I wasn’t.

What happens in your first episode?
Sergeant Stone tries to help a young lady and gets jumped on by a man and he takes his revenge on this guy. Kirsty is caught up in that whole thing. It’s her first day there, she’s already seen misconduct, and although she’s a very fair policewoman, she’s not one to grass. She’s thrown in at the deep end. When she first meets Stone he’s a complete mess, blood all over his face. The first thing she says to him is ‘Looking good, Sarge’.

Do you like your new uniform?
I love it! When I first went in I screen tested for CID. Because a lot of the characters I played have been the comedy, it’s always been quite silly then further along the run I’ve got serious storylines. So for me to come in and read for CID I just thought it would be perfect. Then I got a call about a week later saying ‘We want to see what you look like in uniform’. My first reaction was ‘Oh, I wanted to be in CID’. But I put the uniform on and I was like ‘Oh yes, I like this’. So now I’m absolutely thrilled they stuck me in uniform as opposed to CID. And it’s still a different role to the roles I’ve played before.

How are you finding the long hours?
It’s the early mornings that you have to get used to, it is a jolt to the system. How they do GMTV and those sorts of programmes I have no idea. It’s 27 stops on the tube to the studio, just the length of a script, bar about the last four pages. I’ve never managed to squeeze the whole thing in.

Do you do any stunts yourself?
I had to be kicked in the stomach by a very big young actor — I had the protection on. I look skinny but I’m not afraid to be thrown around a bit, or to throw someone else around, and the guy wasn’t kicking me. It wasn’t impacting anywhere near hard enough. I had to keep saying ‘Kick me harder!’ but he was a little bit wary.
Anyway we did one and I got a proper kick in the stomach but the camera didn’t catch it properly and the director didn’t want to go again because he could see I got a proper whack. I said ‘Come on, we’ll go again’ and he said ‘Are you sure?’ and that time I got proper winded, then it was break for lunch. I didn’t say anything but my ribs were killing me! But, it looked good and that’s all I cared about.

By Linda Gibson