I left audition thinking I did not have a chance.. then I got the role
Whirlwind working life took its toll but Jacey credits a mini midlife crisis for helping her to slow down and appreciate things a little more
character qualities, I have to admit. I’m definitely fiery, passionate and am always willing to stand up for myself.
“I’m kind and loyal like her too, but thankfully not scatty, don’t talk with an accent and definitely have more control over my life.” Reflecting on what she describes as her “surprising survival” in the series, which returned last year after a 13-year break, Jacey added: “At the audition, I screeched away in Spanish and did this mad, improvised, uncontrolled impression of someone who paid no attention to authority.
“I walked away thinking I didn’t have a chance.
“Then I got the role, but I was only expected to last a few episodes until Ramona was sacked – but she proved so popular with viewers, she stayed on.”
Ramona only appeared in the last episode in the last series, when she made a dramatic return for Adam’s ( James Nesbitt) 50th birthday.
Jacey said: “I’d been quite sad, thinking it was finally over for me and ‘bye bye Ramona’.
“Then I got a last-minute call that I was back, after apparently being in Spain for 10 years. Somehow Ramona’s hung on in there.
“She’s so fun to play because she’s a feel-good character who floats around being unpredictable, getting into scrapes and making everyone giggle. She’s had great storylines, from a gambling addiction to working as a pole dancer.
“Amazingly, her English hasn’t improved over the years – that would spoil the joke, wouldn’t it, because there’s so much potential for confusion with the language barrier.”
Jacey, the daughter of a Spanish entrepreneur from Barcelona and an English interior designer, spent her early childhood in Ibiza.
Her parents ran bars and an international school there until the family returned to Britain, where she pursued her dream of an acting career.
Her first big break – playing a Spanish nanny, no less – came thanks to Dawn French, who once taught drama at Parliament Hill School in London where Jacey was a pupil.
Remembering her former charge, Dawn cast Jacey in BBC2 series Murder Most Horrid in the early 90s.
Since then Jacey’s appeared in films The Misadventures of Margaret and science fiction comedy horror Attack The Block, as well as a host of TV series including Holby City, Doctors and, last year, as Spanish millionaire Juanita in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.
She said: “I thought, ‘Uh-oh, a Spanish accent again!’ but Juanita was the total opposite of Ramona, so I thought of it as like playing her nasty elder sister. “She was glamorous, fiery and a complete pantomime-villain character.”
As well as bringing up her 15-year-old daughter, Lola – “We’re going through the teenage years,” the mum admits with mock exasperation – Jacey’s worked in catering and taught English and drama.
A few years ago her “hectic lifestyle and a sort-of midlife crisis” made her change the pace of her life.
She explained: “I’ve always been someone so busy, frenetically working and driven by ambition, but just before I hit 50, I really took a step back, so I could re-evaluate.
“I’ve relaxed more and am not so desperate to be at the centre of everything. I’m in a really good place, live in the now and feel calmer.”
Much like her beloved Ramona, Jacey herself is also single, after a long-term relationship finished last year.
She said: “I’ve never gone looking for romance before because I’ve always let things unfold. If I’m meant to meet someone, I will.
“I’m not that desperate to be in a couple that I’m chasing it. I feel really fulfilled and very happy as I am.”
Just before I hit 50, I really took a step back so I could re-evaluate.. now I’m more relaxed