Sophie's WORLD

GEMMA ARTERTON on the challenges and changes ahead as she returns to the Swinging Sixties

- CAREN CLARK

The first run of Sky Max’s colourful adventure Funny Woman, inspired by Nick Hornby’s 2014 novel Funny Girl, explored the dazzling world of TV comedy in the 1960s through the eyes of soft-hearted but plucky rising star Sophie Straw.

A one-time Blackpool beauty queen, Sophie (Culprits’ Gemma Arterton) quickly made her mark in a hit sitcom after she moved to London and changed her name from Barbara Parker. And now, as the new four-part outing begins, she’s headlining her own show.

But things are not going well, as Sophie feels unsettled without her former writers Bill Gardiner (Vienna Blood’s Matthew Beard) and Tony Holmes (Becoming Elizabeth’s Leo Bill), who are working on another programme at a rival channel with kindly producer/ director Dennis Mahindra (Informer’s Arsher Ali), with whom she has fallen in love.

Can trailblazing Sophie make the pioneering comedy she really wants to, and will she and Dennis find their happily ever after?

Here, Kent-born Gemma, 38, who’s also an executive producer on the show, shares her take…

Have you enjoyed immersing yourself in the 1960s once more, Gemma?

It was an amazing time for fashion. Sophie’s gone up a gear in terms of her fashion this series; she’s cutting-edge and fun. The make-up has also changed – it’s heavier under the eye. And we wanted her to feel much more Brigitte Bardot. I’ve gone blonde, so we could have more natural styles coming off the face [Gemma wore a wig in the first series]. I’ve dyed my hair for the first time in my life!

What’s it been like to play Sophie again?

She’s one of my favourite characters I’ve played, and it’s nice coming back for a second season because I know who she is. She can get herself into scrapes and is reckless, but she lives in the moment. I have a similar personality!