My favourite part of the visit was getting to meet all the actors and actresses, getting to see all the backstage stuff and seeing where it was filmed. I liked getting to see them film the show and it was really interesting! I didn’t realise how long it took to film. They spent the full day filming just one scene.
From the sets I saw, my favourite was the circus because it looked really nice and decorative. It must have taken them ages to do! The designers of the backdrops must have put a lot of effort and time into them.
All the actors and actresses were all really nice and I got to speak with most of them. It was really cool getting to interview the actors that play Tracy, Jess and Jordan. I also got to sit with the make-up artists, who were really friendly, and watch them do all the make-up for the different actors and actresses.
I’d never been to Bristol before and I didn’t know what it was going to be like. We went down by plane and got to stay in a hotel near the recording studios. Bristol was very nice and I really enjoyed my trip. Thank you for reading!
Q & A
Q. What is your favourite memory from We Are The Beaker Girls/Tracy Beaker?
Dani:
“I’m going to go with the best memory was eating the worm. Because everyone thinks I did actually eat a worm but I didn’t because the BBC can’t allow that. But it was just a bit of liquorice. It’s one of those iconic moments that everyone always asks me about.”
Emma:
“One of my favourite memories is one of the first things I filmed with Dani. Which is when we’re in the pink Cadillac. It was very cold and very rainy. But I got to really bond with Dani and she bought me hot chocolate.”
Chi-Megan:
“I don’t know if I could pick just one. My favourite ones have to be when I’m filming with Dani and Emma. We have really cool scenes together like relationship bonding scenes. And then we have like really fun scenes like chaos scenes. I just really enjoy filming with them.”
Q. What is your most embarrassing moment on set?
Emma:
“It was when we were doing a Dumping Ground shot. I was walking up this hill on location. And they told me just to do it. So, I was walking up the road. And I kept walking, and walking and walking. I was like “where is the shot?” And I walked right past it! All the crew were stood there just going ‘Emma. Emma’ and I just kept walking. Eventually they got my attention and I had to walk over which is embarrassing because they’re all stood on the other end of the road.”
Dani:
“I actually don’t get embarrassed. But there was a time when I was like a teenager in the Dumping Ground. There was this big hill – everyone fell down it. But I really, really, really fell down it. And it was in front of absolutely everybody and I broke my toe.”
Chi-Megan:
“I have a few. I’m very clumsy. I walk into everything. I have walked into cameras. I’ve walked into people. I’m extremely clumsy. I feel like I’m always walking into stuff, to be honest with you.”
Q. Who is your favourite character that’s not you?
Chi-Megan:
“I think this season my favourite character would have to be Peter. I think he’s got a cool storyline this season. It’s fun to watch it unravel.”
Dani:
“I think I quite like Justine Littlewood because she’s quite feisty, a bit patronising and she’s got nice clothes.”
Emma:
“Mrs Cook. She’s not in the books but she’s in the series. I like her and in this series you kind of see an interesting side to her.”
Q. If you weren’t your character, who would you want to play?
Emma:
“Mrs Cook or Justine Littlewood. I want to play a baddy. I think Jess is a bit of a goody two shoes. She’s always kind of snitching and stuff. I love Jess and how she’s so nice. But it would be cool to play a baddy.”
Chi-Megan:
“That’s a hard one. I think it would have to be Flo.”
This article was originally written for the Winter 2022 edition of SpeakOut.
