A
fear of bugs, spiders and anything creepy crawly has nearly stopped The Bill
actor Roberta Taylor from coming to Australia."It is not a fear, it is a complete phobia," said Taylor, who played hard nosed Inspector Gina Gold in the popular British police drama The Bill.
"It really is part of my life."
In the middle of talking about how happy she was to finally be in Sydney, a moth interrupted Taylor's chain of thought, prompting her to jump out of her chair.
"It is black and enormous," she wailed. "What the hell was that?"
Taylor was in the country to talk about the release of her memoir, Too Many Mothers.
"I have always wanted to write fiction and I have always tweaked anything I have done on television," said Taylor, who also is known for her years on EastEnders playing Irene Raymond.
"I love the idea of having to discipline myself purely by myself which, as an actor, you don't have to because you have to be at work...like anybody else.
"But no-one would know if I went to my writing room or not."
In the memoir, Taylor tells stories which reveal the lives of people who have influenced her childhood such as an embattled family at war.
There also are tales of pet monkeys, romance, blackmail and murder.
"You can only as an actor play shades of what you know somewhere," said Taylor, who was married to fellow British actor Peter Guinness.
Again, an
interruption to the interview, this time a fly."It had Nigerian features," she said, eyes darting to make sure the fly was gone.
The book took Taylor nearly three years to write because of her busy schedule working on The Bill.
Next, she plans to set aside three months to write a fictional novel.
"I am on a two book deal and the next one will be pure fiction," she said.
Taylor's contract on The Bill, which screens on the ABC in Australia, is due for renewal early next year and the actor is seriously considering her options.
"I will just see how it goes when I go back (to London)," she said.
"There are new executive producers in and they say it (The Bill) is going to be much more police-based which is what pleases me but because there are new people coming in and some people are leaving, I need to know what kind of show I am going to be in."