Lilies by Heidi Thomas - a new drama series for 91Èȱ¬ One: Liverpool, 1920. Three girls on the edge of womanhood, a world on the brink of change
Kerrie Hayes plays Ruby
Ruby (19) has two defining characteristics – she has a temper, and she can swim. At the start of the series, she is still mourning the death of her twin brother, Walter, killed at Paschendaele, and – protesting bitterly – takes on a job in corset sales. As the story unfolds, viewers see her growing to maturity through professional success, and enjoying her first romance – but not before her mercurial nature and violent streak have brought her to the brink of ruin.
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Liverpudlian livewire Kerrie Hayes was always going to make a splash with her debut TV role. But little did she know that she'd be making that splash in the freezing, murky waters of the River Mersey, writes Nicola Hicks.
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Kerrie (19) stars as Ruby, the youngest of the Moss sisters, in 91Èȱ¬ One's sexy, funny and heartbreaking drama, Lilies. Feisty, passionate and driven, Ruby is also a young girl with dreams of becoming an Olympic swimmer, as viewers learn in the opening episode.
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But when Kerrie was asked during her audition if she could swim, the newcomer had no idea there was anything fishy going on.
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"When they asked me if I could swim, I said of course I can – I didn't know I was going to be taking a dip in the Mersey!" laughs the actor. "It was a bit of a shock to start with but it was a good challenge for me. It's something I'll probably never do again, obviously, but I really enjoyed it, despite the jellyfish..."
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Ruby is the baby of the Moss family, though she'd be far from happy with that description.
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"She's definitely trying to break out of that role. She's spirited, perhaps a bit rebellious and a bit of a go-getter. Sometimes it appears that she speaks without thinking but, actually, she's thinking all the time. She's not formally educated but she's got a lot of common sense and has a lot of ambition and drive. She's quite forward-thinking as well," explains Kerrie.
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Having lost her mother at a young age and her twin brother, Walter, in the War, Ruby is fiercely attached to her remaining family: sisters May (Leanne Rowe) and Iris (Catherine Tyldesley), brother Billy (Daniel Rigby) and her Dadda (Brian McCardie), with whom she shares more than a few characteristics.
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"Ruby's very much like her father – a good few of his qualities have passed down to her, shall we say. It can be a good thing but it can be a bad thing as well – it certainly explains why she doesn't always take too much notice of him," smiles Kerrie.
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Billy, who is just a year older than Ruby, has returned from the Navy with shellshock, and his younger sister feels instinctively protective of him, adds the actor.
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"I think she's also grieving over her lost twin – she's looking for a substitute, really, although she wouldn't say that to Billy. But, emotionally, that's what's going on and she won't hear anything bad about him."
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But it is with her sisters that Ruby enjoys the closest relationship.
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"I love the relationship between the sisters. It was one of the first things that drew me in," says Kerrie. "I think that, having lost her mum recently, Ruby has really latched onto her older sister, Iris, who fulfils that maternal role. They are incredibly close. Sometimes they bicker, like all sisters do, but there's always a reason for it – there's a really strong attachment there.
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"With May, it's more of a sisterly thing. I think Ruby sees May on more of an equal footing and they care a lot about each other. Basically, Ruby would do anything for her family."
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This might explain why Ruby's sisters manage to shoe-horn her into a somewhat straight-laced new job early on in the series.
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"They want her to apply for a job as a corsetiere and, at first, she's dead set against it," explains Kerrie. "Ruby doesn't necessarily fit the refined, 'lady corsetiere' image, after all. But, as the role is thrust upon her, she sees it less in those terms and more as a business proposition. The idea of being a career woman definitely appeals to her. Fitting corsets is her craft and, if she's going to do it, she's going to do it well."
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Lilies might be Kerrie's first professional job but she had impeccable credentials for tackling the role of Ruby: two older sisters of her own.
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"I'm the youngest of three girls – my sisters are 21 and 23 – so I've got that attention-seeking thing and that tendency to strive not to be the baby all the time, just as Ruby has," she smiles. "I definitely think that helped me with the role."
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Indeed, the actor, who also has two younger brothers, credits her eldest sister with setting her on the path to her future career.
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"My sister got into acting when we were at school and, at the time, I was going through a phase when I was copying everything she was doing and so I joined a drama class, too. But then she lost interest and I just carried on," she explains.
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And as if four siblings weren't enough, after five months on the set of Lilies, Kerrie felt she had gained another two: her screen sisters, Leanne and Catherine.
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"We hit it off straight away, which was great. But, funnily enough, one day towards the end of filming, we were sitting just off set, waiting to go on, and we suddenly found ourselves bickering – not arguing but just bickering like sisters would!" she laughs.
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"We all just broke off and started grinning because it was such a funny situation. But I suppose after working together and practically living together for the past five months, we had built up that sisterly thing."
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