A role in the bill is good for the Goose

A VETERAN of hospital and police dramas, Claire Goose is donning a uniform yet again as she prepares to join The Bill.

The Edinburgh-born actress became a household name and lads' mag pin-up following her roles in Casualty and Waking The Dead. Now, four years on, she's returning to our screens as Sergeant Rachel Weston.

For Claire, it's a return to the police force following her role as DS Mel Silver in Waking the Dead, which ended with her tragic death as she investigated a case.

She's excited at the prospect of joining The Bill's increasingly glamorous cast, although there have been new skills for her to master – such as learning how to use police handcuffs.

DS Silver spent more of her time in pathological labs and discussing cases with psychologists than out on the beat collaring criminals.

"They're quite tricky to do and if you don't know what you're doing you could actually hurt someone quite badly," laughs Claire.

The appeal of the show was its willingness to engage with issues and develop heavyweight plotlines.

"It's really changed, certainly since Jonathan Young's come in as executive producer," she says.

"It's more about police issues and I think it's very reflective of what's happening on the London streets at the moment.

"The storylines are really quite beefy and they don't just cover a single episode like they used to. So they can get really in-depth stories going over a month or two, which I think the audience loves as it means they can really invest in the story."

Since leaving Waking the Dead, the 33-year-old has starred in the drama The Good Citizen for BBC 1, and alongside David Tennant in the ITV1 drama Secret Smile. She has also featured in the Channel Five trilogy Perfect Day, as well acting in radio plays.

She has been warned that she will be getting more public attention than ever before, as The Bill reaches so many people, but she's not worried. "I've always been so lucky as the feedback from the public has always been so positive. It's never been intrusive and I'm not the kind of person who goes out clubbing until four in the morning," she says.

"I've never had that sort of press attention which is great, because that way I still get to live my day-to-day life."

Some of her previous media coverage included a slot in FHM's Sexiest Women list for three years running, something that Claire laughs at now. She says: "The older you get the more you look back at those things and think, 'Oh that was nice'. It was very flattering."

Claire was born in the Capital when her GP dad David and mum Joy were living in Clerwood, although they moved to Norwich before she started school.

After catching the acting bug at school, Claire did not take long to make her mark in her chosen profession.

Before landing her first major television role, playing nurse Tina Seabrook in Casualty, she very nearly became an integral part of another long-running series.

'I hope they continue to have really good stories'

Shortlisted for the role of Tiffany in EastEnders, she was pipped at the post by Martine McCutcheon.

She has also established herself as an accomplished stage actress, winning the best actress award at the Fringe in 2000 among other accolades.

Between starting work on the force and her other commitments, both in her professional and personal life, there has been little time to draw breath recently. She married her partner Craig at Christmas and afterwards jetted off to New Zealand for six weeks.

She's also found the time to learn a new skill. She says: "I've just finished a diploma in interior design after taking myself off to evening school.

"It's something I've always been very interested in but I never knew much about, so this has given me the skills to do all the drawings and model-making to scale."

A future occupation then? Not just yet, although she is hoping to develop it. "It will be lovely to do things for my friends but that's about it. One of my friends has already asked me to design her extension which she's having done. She said, 'I'll pay you,' which I'm certainly okay with!

"Perhaps I should get my hands on everyone's dressing rooms and re-design all of those!"

For now though, you can expect to see Claire sticking with acting as she's committed to The Bill for the next year.

"I just hope they continue to have really good stories so I feel challenged. That's the biggest thing, because you want to come home from a day and feel you've really enjoyed it and really worked hard."

It's not the first time she's been involved with Sun Hill – in 1995, before she walked the wards of Holby General, she featured in an episode as character Stacey Abbot.

She exudes enthusiasm about her new role, excitedly describing her new character: "For Rachel, joining the police force wasn't something she always dreamed of. She went away travelling for a year and was a bit of an adventure and thrill-seeker.

"She came back looking for a job which had an edge to it and became interested in the police, in particular the uniformed police as they are very much on the front line."

Having made the decision to join the force, Rachel finds she was right to trust her instincts.

Claire says: "She realised not only did she really love it but she was actually really good at it and a natural leader. So she progressed up the ranks quickly. When a place came up at Sun Hill she was actually being poached but was unaware the character John Heaton had an eye on her for quite a while."

After the drama of her dramatic exit from Waking the Dead, it looks like there will be plenty more twists to Claire's screen career in the coming months.

• Claire Goose stars in The Bill on ITV1 from Wednesday, August 6.

SOAP STARS RECRUITED TO THE BILL

• Gillian Taylforth: Best known for playing Kathy in EastEnders, she first joined Gary Lucy on Footballers' Wives before becoming Sergeant Nikki Wright.

• Ali Bastian: After playing Becca Dean in Hollyoaks, she went from being stuck behind bars to putting people there – as she became the character PC Sally Armstrong.

• Lucy Speed: She was famed for playing Natalie Evans in EastEnders, now she's a regular at Sun Hill playing DC Stevie Moss.

• Gary Lucy: Having won the Best Newcomer award at the 2000 British Soap Awards for his role of Luke Morgan in Hollyoaks, he then went on to play Kyle Pascoe in Footballers' Wives and you can now find him as PC Will Fletcher.

• Roberta Taylor: The former EastEnder, who played Irene Raymond, wife of Terry, left the square to take up the role of Inspector Gina Gold.

• Todd Carty: After leaving behind a lengthy stint as Mark Fowler in EastEnders, he became bad copper PC Gabriel Kent.