Cop in a park cover-up

Faye Smythe (right) played a nurse in Shortland Street and has now moved on to being a policewoman in Bad Mothers. But she may have been a little overly convincing in her latest role, as Cass Marrett finds.

Kiwi actress Faye Smythe feels relaxed in a police uniform, perhaps even a little too relaxed. Leaving the wardrobe department on the set of Bad Mothers, a cup of tea in hand, Smythe expected to enjoy a few moments of peace on a nearby park bench before filming for the Aussie drama began.

She did not expect to be interrupted by two real-life cops who seemed to be making a beeline for her from across the way.

“They were walking towards me and I was like, ‘Oh god, oh god I’m one of them, I look like them’,” she says.

“What if they start talking police business to me? Or what if they’re like, ‘Why are you sitting in the park with your feet up drinking tea?’ ”

And while Smythe steeled herself for the ambush, out of the corner of her eye she saw the wardrobe lady racing towards her with a robe to cover up the costume.

“Apparently you can’t just be in a police uniform in the park,” says Smythe. “You have to be covered up and people have to know you’re not actually a police officer.”

Once they realised the full situation, the two real-life cops let the matter pass without incident.

For most Kiwis, Smythe, 33, will be more recognisable

in scrubs from her Shortland Street days as Tania Jeffries. Since leaving the soap in 2012, Smythe has had roles in Auckland Daze and House Husbands and has also relocated to Melbourne where she has starred in several stage productions and the Australian film West Of Sunshine. Reflecting on her time on Shortland Street, she says the hardest thing about leaving the soap and New Zealand was saying goodbye to her Ferndale family. “I was there for so long it really became like a home for me. “I’d even send my mail there, do my dry cleaning there, like it really is a home.” In Bad Mothers, Smythe plays Senior Leading Constable Faith Delgado, who appears in the opening scenes of this week’s episode. “She’s very hard working, driven, her career is important to her. She’s a bit of a workaholic so her professional life is very on track.” In the show, her work as a mentor for young officers eventually partners her up with Sam (Harry Greenwood), Bad Mother Bindy’s on-again, off-again cop boyfriend. In the midst of a murder investigation, child custody battles, new careers and awkward relationships, the ‘Bad Mothers Club’ has its hands full. Despite that, Bindy thinks her friend and flatmate Maddie needs to spice up her sex life and encourages her to go on a date with Smythe’s character Faith.

When asked for more intel about how Faith interacts with the Bad Mothers, Smythe remains coy.

“It’s hard to say without disappointing the audience by revealing too much,” she says.

But what she has not been so reticent about is her pride in being part of such a strong female-led show.

“I really love seeing a show that portrays women and shows them in really healthy, robust friendships and in support of each other.

“When I was younger there was that fear of just being typecast as the love interest or the ingenue and I feel like women sometimes feel a lot of pressure not to be able to leave that archetype that we have filled.

“I think they’re really changing characters out there. Women are becoming so much more kick-ass and complex.”

And while such adjectives certainly describe her character, Smythe says after playing Faith she couldn’t see herself on the frontline in real life.

“There is so much pressure with being a police officer.

“(Playing Faith) really was a lovely little dabble in it and that’s what I really love about acting is you get to dip your toe into different environments. I was happy with just the test on that one.”