91Èȱ¬

PA to... Simon Turner (Darren Boyd)
Take Note... Fame v Real-life responsibilities
Most likely to... Belt out a show-tune whilst doing the filing
Strengths... She's the best friend you can ever have
Weaknesses... Reality often comes second place to celebrity

On the whole, Midge thinks everyone's brilliant. She's a bouncy, emotionally intelligent space cadet who dropped out of hairdressing college and is now desperate to be famous, at any price.

So she can't believe her luck when she finds out she's made it into the final 12 of a TV reality talent show: Wizard Of Oz: Dare To Dream. At last it looks like fame is beckoning for the Scouser wannabe and on top of that she has finally pulled loverboy Robbie – the office totty.

"She's such an open person who wears her heart on her sleeve and tries to see the best in everyone," says Annabel. "I've really fallen in love with her as a character and there's so much more to Midge than the fame thing.

"Ultimately she'd be your ideal work mate because, even if she's feeling depressed or down, she'll do anything for anyone and will always try and snap herself out of it for the sake of everyone else."

And, more often than not, Midge does have to paint on that smile as life for the PAs doesn't exactly run smoothly at investment bank Hartmann Payne.

Unfortunately, her excitement at having the chance to follow the yellow brick road is short-lived after the TV company find out about her secret past. And, as soon as he hears Midge isn't going to be famous, Robbie (Jamie Davis) dumps her as well.

Thankfully she's got the full support of her boss Simon (Darren Boyd) – only what Midge doesn't realise is that her married boss is in love with his PA and he orchestrated her being kicked off the TV show so she wouldn't leave the company, or more importantly, leave him.

"Midge has no idea about Simon's feelings but if she did I don't think she would reciprocate. I'm not sure office romances are a good thing anyway. I've had romances on acting jobs and they don't tend to work out," she adds, laughing. "Plus, if you split up with someone, you have to keep working with them. That has happened to me before and it's very, very awkward."

Meanwhile, Midge is extremely close to Lucy (Laura Aikman), can't quite comprehend Nicole's (Maimie McCoy) pessimism and has a bizarre connection with Sid (Ruth Negga) even though, on the surface, they couldn't be more different.

Clearly something of a fantasist, Midge has been let down by the real world at an early age but still desperately wants to believe that everything is as good as the movies promise it will be. She's not going to allow one setback to get in the way of her quest for celebrity and continues to try anything to make her dream of fame come true.

But the past is coming back to haunt her.

"Everything she fantasises about she does genuinely believe can happen. That's something I love about her because I agree that if you set your mind on something then you really can do it," suggests Annabel.

"Maybe because of things that happened to her when she was younger she feels she has something to prove. She is an optimist and she's always looking forward, but the poor thing does take a real battering as the series goes on."

Annabel, recently seen on screen as bloodthirsty vampire Lauren in 91Èȱ¬ Three's Being Human, has also notched up appearances in Jane Eyre and Holby City, as well as playing a lesbian mortgage broker in EastEnders.

And Annabel hopes that her lead role in Personal Affairs will prove to be her big TV break:

"I'm loving Personal Affairs because it's my first big television job. I didn't really know what to expect at all and I've learnt so much since we started.

"Plus, I had to perfect a Liverpool accent for my second audition which was very nerve-wracking, so I sat down one afternoon and watched Educating Rita on a loop and thankfully I found out I could do it.

"When I first got the part I didn't quite understand why I'd got it because I'm not Scouse, I'm not ditzy. But further down the line I realise now I am so like Midge and I don't know why I didn't see it before."

Something else Annabel shares with her Personal Affairs persona is a lack of secretarial strengths.

She says: "I'm so bad on computers. It's unbelievable how bad I am so I've done everything I can to avoid them. The only time I worked in an office was on work experience at a theatre and they had me photocopying stuff as well and I couldn't do that either.

"I literally can't make anything work in an office and so problematic for me was the fact that Midge is supposed be very good at typing and brilliant on the internet and everything. Thank God we were allowed to air-type during filming so no-one can actually see that my fingers aren't even touching the keyboard!"