~*~BeCcA~*~
Becca Hayton aka Ali Bastian
How did you get the part of Becca? I got it through my agency in London. They sent me to a big audition at this hotel with loads of other girls. My agent had said to me, "These auditions can be quite tough so don't stress about it, just do it." So I went, didn't really think that much about it, and didn't hear anything else for a couple of months.Then I was suddenly called up to Liverpool for another audition. They were casting three girls and there were four of us there, so it was like, oh no, one of us is going to walk out of here without a job. I got a phone call that night on the train home to London, saying I'd got the part of Becca!
What were your impressions of HOLLYOAKS before you joined the programme? I'd liked it, and I'd watched it when it first started with Kurt and Tony. When I started filming I tried to just keep an open mind, because you never quite knew what you were walking in to. I thought that there'd be a lot of young actors so I knew it was bound to be quite a giggle and fun.
How did you feel during your first day on set? I remember very clearly. We were filming in the big hall, and it was us trying to get student accommodation and I was dressed in probably the most boring clothes I've seen in my life, a floral number from head to foot! I thought, they're, making me a real geek! I was so nervous, even though I'd done other jobs before, because the speed at which a soap is shot just blows you away. There's not a lot of time for error, it's sink or swim, and I really felt that on the first day I just had to get stuck in.
How do you think Becca's character has changed over time? She's had a hard time! Turbulent relationships one after another, pregnancy as well, losing Jamie, and Alex disappearing, and Adam...! This is the good thing about soap, because they keep the characters evolving all the time. You go through phases – like one time I was having to come in and spend the whole day crying then go home. But it never lasts forever and the characters quite quickly move on to the next storyline. I've had to do a lot of trauma and a lot tears and heartache, I've had a chance to explore that area of myself and acting, and now you're seeing more of a comical side. It's been fun because I've never really done any comedy before, and it's not something I thought I'd necessarily get the chance to do.
How have you handled Becca's recent sequence of rather emotional storylines? You try and keep a thread running through the character all the time. For me the character's similar to my personality in parts, but in a much more extreme version. I try to keep things as true to myself as I can. But because we've got a lot of different scriptwriters and directors, all sorts of people have different ideas about how they want to see the character develop. It's up to us really as actors to try and keep a thread running through it.
Do you feel at all sympathetic towards your character? Sometimes you get a bit annoyed and feel like you want her to snap out of it! But it's easy enough for people to slip into those kinds of destructive relationships – it does happen to people. You're hopefully going to see the character at some point come through it and grow up a little bit. It's all part of being a teenager and growing up in your 20s – there is a lot of heartache!