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13 Questions: Sparticle Mystery star Grace Mandeville

by Ivy Broadhead

10th February 2011

What would an adult-free world look like? And what would the kids in it get up to? This Lord of the Flies-style scenario is the premise for new C91Èȱ¬ series The Sparticle Mystery, starting next week, in which a group of children find themselves alone in the real world, while their parents are stuck in a parallel dimension. With no grown-ups around, the children are left to take care of each other in a struggle for survival, and to work together to find a way to be reunited with the adults.

Several members of the all-children cast are disabled young people, such as Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll star Wesley Nelson, and newcomer Grace Mandeville as Holly.

Grace, who is 16 and lives in Surrey with her family, was born with a foreshortened arm. The Sparticle Mystery is Grace’s first TV part, but surely won’t be the last. She talks school, spiders and TV screenings as she answers our 13 Questions.
Grace Mandeville as Holly in the Sparticle Mystery

My priority this week is ...

Looking nice for the screening of the Sparticle Mystery. My family are coming along too, they wouldn’t miss it. I’m not actually in the episode they're showing, so I’ll be able to watch it without picking myself apart. It’s going to be strange to see myself onscreen, I know I’ll be like 'Grace, what are you doing? Why are you smiling like that? Why are you standing funny?’

The three words I would use to describe myself would be ...

Competitive, determined, and outgoing. The people who know me would probably agree with that.

My earliest memory is ...

From when I was about seven. I used to wear a fake arm. I was riding a bike with the arm hooked onto the handlebars, until I fell off, with my arm still on the bike! I didn’t really wear it much even then, just as a Halloween prop and that sort of thing. Now I think my arm is me, prosthetics just get in the way.

If I suddenly became able bodied I would ...

Learn to play the guitar. I did try it but it just didn’t work. Me and my friends were going to start a band but because I’m the drummer we would have had to practice at my house. Our next door neighbours wouldn’t have been too happy.

My guilty pleasure is ...

Bacon. I could eat it with anything!

The last holiday I took was ...

Turkey, two years ago with my family. We’ve been there a couple of times. I love it. We just stayed in a hotel and ate and swam and ate and swam and lay in the sun.

The first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning is ...

School! I’m doing my GCSEs at the moment so I wake up thinking, ‘what coursework do I have to do today?’ My Mum has banned me from doing any more acting work until my coursework and exams are out of the way.

My dream job would be ...

To act in a period drama, ideally a film with Johnny Depp in it. I just love all of the costumes, dressing up is so much fun.

The last thing I laughed out loud at was ...

I laugh all the time. My friends make me laugh, at the moment they are all taking the mick out of me because I’m going to be on TV, like ‘oooh, who’s the superstar, bow down to her.’ I guess it’s their job though; they wouldn’t be my friends if they didn’t.
Grace Mandeville

The last thing I bought was ...

A pair of shoes and a bag for the screening of the Sparticle Mystery, as a bit of a post-filming treat.

The one thing I've done before but would never do again is ...

Pplay the trumpet. It wasn’t hard; it just wasn’t a very good sound.

I'm afraid of ...

Spiders. I found one in my bed once and I couldn’t sleep in it for a week. It was probably tiny but to me it looked like it was the size of a tarantula. My brother thinks it’s funny; he’ll pick one up and throw it in my face.

I can't say no to ...

Someone daring me to do something, or saying 'I bet you can’t do it’. Then I have to. I’ve tried all sorts of things, karate, waterskiing, and drums, which I don’t think many people thought I would be able to do.
• is a 13-part series beginning 14th February at 6.20pm on the C91Èȱ¬ channel. It will be on Monday to Thursday each week until the seventh of March.

Comments

    • 1. At on 07 Mar 2011, EggyMeggy wrote:

      Wow! You've done so much! Well done on the Sparticle Mystery it was AMAZING! Just saw the last episode, is there going to be another series? I hope so i would love a part in it! I laughed when i read your scared of spiders after reading you done karate! You could just gone WACK! LOL
      From EggyMeggy

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