The bolshie ballet dancer
NEVER GIVE UP HOW VICKY McCLURE MADE IT THE HARD WAY Line of Duty’s tough cop dreamed of a career on stage as a top ballerina
Oxbridge types can afford to take a hit. It wasn’t like that for Vicky DRAMA COACH IAN
HER toes correctly pointed, showgirl smile curtain-ready, and those angelic features framed by a tutu, it’s hard to imagine that this young ballerina would become known for her kickass, tough-girl roles.
Vicky McClure was about 10 when the photo was taken and her dream then was to be a prima ballerina in the Royal Ballet, rather than the first female 007 – the role she is being linked with.
When “clicky ankles” dashed her hopes of a ballet career, Vicky turned to acting, first making an impact as skinhead Lol Jenkins in This Is England and now starring as DS Kate Fleming in Line of Duty, with roles in Broadchurch and a Madonna film along the way.
She may have found fame but Vicky is so far from a prima donna she still lives near her parents in her home city of Nottingham and is resisting a move to Hollywood because she would be too far from a Greggs shop.
She and her screen characters are not so very different, and she said: “I don’t take any s***. I’m strong, I lead the gang.”
But her stage persona could have been very different had she managed to land a dream role as a ballet dancer.
She said: “I started out as this little performer, all singing and dancing.”
Aged 13, she auditioned for the Royal Ballet but a doctor found her ankles were too weak to support work en pointe, leaving her dreams in tatters.
She said: “I’ve asked the doctor about it because I was worried I’d get arthritis but he says it’s fine.”
Now 33, Vicky’s role in the fourth series of Line of Duty, with Martin Compston, 32, and Adrian Dunbar, 58, comes hot on the heels of her part in psychological thriller The Replacement.
The three-part BBC miniseries, which was set and filmed in Glasgow, was a hit and made stars of the cast, including Morven Christie as architect Ellen and Vicky as Paula, her maternity cover.
It has been a long, hard road to get to this position. Vicky’s parents couldn’t afford drama school, meaning she learned her craft at a drama workshop.
Even when she was getting roles in films and TV, she continued working day jobs in Nottingham to get by, first in H Samuel and Dorothy Perkins, then in a tanning salon and finally in an office.
Her old drama coach Ian Smith said: “She had to put the acting on hold. It’s why you have the predominance of Oxbridge types.
“They can afford to take a hit in their early years because they have the financial safety net.
“It’s never been like that for Vicky and it is really difficult playing the long game,
hoping for a break when you are doing telesales or bar work to make ends meet. With most people, it saps their creativity. “She worked so hard to get it right.” Vicky even clocked on to her nineto-five job after starring in Madonna’s 2008 movie Filth and Wisdom. She became mates with the singer, introducing her to her mum and even travelling in Madonna’s jet.
Vicky said: “I woke up the next day and had to go back to my job, part of which was looking after the vending machines. Somebody came to tell me there was a mocha latte stuck.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’ve just got off Madonna’s plane!’ But I didn’t say anything, I just cracked on with it.”
That work ethic was instilled in Vicky and her sister Jenny by her dad Michael, a butcher, then a joiner, and mum Carol, who still live in a redbrick, semi-detached ex-council house.
Vicky pops round for a roast dinner most weekends.
A family friend said: “She is very grounded and I would put that down to her mother.
“Carol kept a strict rein on them both. What both parents gave those girls was a work ethic.”
At school, Vicky said she was “hyperactive, daft, a real class clown. I enjoyed secondary school so much that I barely got any GCSEs”.
But when it came to performing, the determination was always there.
First it was ballet. Alison Machin, 52, who runs the Ogando School of Dance, taught her from the age of three.
She said: “Vicky was just a delight, full of character, very enthusiastic and talented. She took part in competitions.
“She’d come to us three nights a week after school.” After the Royal Ballet dream was dashed, Vicky focused on drama and, aged 14, won a place at the Italia Conti drama school in London. Her parents spent a year trying to raise the funds, to no avail. Vicky said: “Mum wrote to every man and his dog. We just couldn’t find the money.” A family friend said: “Getting a place was a massive achievement but her mum would have been straightforward and told her they couldn’t afford it. And Vicky would have just got on with it.” Instead, she attended the Television Workshop in Nottingham. Tutor Ian Smith said: “Had she gone down the Italia Conti route she’d have ended up doing a lot of musical theatre. “Instead she honed her TV craft and proved to be brilliant. She soon proved herself. “She had a rawness and cheekiness and so much potential. There’s no falseness, she is truly down-to-earth. On screen she is stunning. She has this luminosity. “She is very quick-witted, always making people laugh.” Her first break came in 1999, at the age of 15, when local director Shane Meadows cast her in A Room For Romeo Brass.
After starring in Meadows’ next film, This is England, in 2006, she won a Best Actress Bafta for Channel 4’s spin-off series This is England 86.
Despite her success, she kept her office job until 2011, before moving to London.
She then met her partner Jonny Owen, 45, when they were in the film Svengali together.
But Vicky got homesick. She said: “After nine months it had gotten to the point where I was waking up every Sunday, saying, ‘I’m going back on the train for a roast, Jonny. Fancy it?’”
They are now back living in Nottingham and are unlikely to move.
Vicky said: “It would be very hard for me to move to Hollywood. I’d be nowhere near a Greggs. I don’t think I’d like a life without a sausage roll.” ●Line of Duty is on BBC1 tomorrow at 9pm.