The tragic death of Colin Tarrant, best known for his role in The Bill, brought bitter-sweet memories for former child actress Suzy O’Connor. Andy Smart reports...

SUZY O'Connor's acting career might have been short-lived – but it gave her a scrapbook full of wonderful memories.

As a feisty teenager growing up in Eastwood, she won a key role in one of those wonderful period dramas the BBC does so well.

Having a strong local accent helped Suzy win her part in the film, an adaptation of D H Lawrence's sexually explicit 1915 novel The Rainbow.

And it brought her alongside some well-known actors including Imogen Stubbs, Clare Holman, Kate Buffery, Tom Bell and Shirebrook-born Colin Tarrant – ex-star of The Bill who died last week.

"When I read about Colin, it brought all the memories back," said Suzy, 39, a mother-of-two living in Ilkeston, who abandoned her dreams of being an actress 20 years ago and is now an advertising manager.

"Colin was a kind, lovely, genuine man.

"The established actors would not approach us children off set, but he was always very friendly. It is so sad."

Like so much of his work, Lawrence set The Rainbow around the family places of his childhood in Eastwood, exploring the intimate relationships between three generations of the Brangwen family.

When the BBC began casting the net for local children with the right accent, Suzy Roper, a 15-year-old pupil at Eastwood Comprehensive, decided to go for it.

"I auditioned at school, but didn't get the part then. I was something of a Goth at the time, blonde, shaved hair ...

"But then the director Stuart Burge saw me with Roundabout at the Playhouse and he said 'I don't care about the hair, we can hide that with a wig. I want her'."

Suzy, slim and bubbly with her trademark blonde hair now grown to a more natural length, was given a screen test and landed the plum role of Theresa, one of the Brangwen children.

For six months in 1988, Suzy was part of the glamorous movie world, filming scenes at locations across Notts and Derbyshire and other parts of the country.

"I can remember Imogen Stubbs asking me how to say this word or that.

"They couldn't quite grasp the accent and it was coming out as Yorkshire.

"It was fabulous," she said, "but a bit embarrassing.

"I had expected it to be hidden away on BBC2, but it went out in three parts on prime time BBC1 Sunday evening so everyone saw me.

"I had this one particular line 'Billy Pilling's pulled my 'air'. Everyone at school would shout it at me!"

Other local children who appeared were Emma Chambers, Kathryn Brown, Paul Duke and Claire Thompson.

Although the plot covers three generations of the Brangwen family, Suzy was featured in all the episodes.

"I was the only one of the children to appear in all three. They used to change my wig to make me look older," she explained.

For a while, the acting passion burned brightly.

After The Rainbow, for which she was paid a handsome £1,000, Suzy took an A level course in theatre studies and began applying to drama schools in London.

But then the reality kicked in: "Drama schools were costly and I kept getting knock backs. I just gave up in the end."

Twenty years on, she occasionally looks back to what might have been.

"When I watch these costume dramas on TV I sometimes think I could be up there doing that."

Instead, she has hopes that her children Isabella, seven, and Logan, five, might have picked up the acting bug.

"I am the original pushy mum.

"I keep telling Isabella if there is a chance to do drama, take it."