River city star takes on students’ scenes
RIVER City star Juliet Cadzow swapped the Shieldinch set for Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) as she performed scenes penned by scriptwriting students.
The acclaimed actor recently joined the popular BBC Scotland soap as the “sophisticated, sassy and sharptongued” Suzie Fraser.
Juliet was in character on campus as she acted out scenes written for her by MA TV Fiction Writing students.
Juliet, a Cultural Fellow at GCU, said: “I think the students have captured the essence of Suzie very well and the other River City characters as well. Suzie has a vulnerability, on the surface she appears brash and confident, but underneath there’s a fragility.
“Some of the scenes have been very moving; others very funny. I’ve never been in a soap before so it’s been inter- esting for me to learn the process. Seeing students manage to write these short scenes and get all the nuances in has been fascinating.”
Juliet has starred on stage and screen, but it is the role of bus driver Edie McCredie in hit children’s television programme Balamory for which she is most fondly remembered.
GCU’s MA TV Fiction Writing is the only dedicated full-time postgraduate programme of its type in the UK.
Students benefit from an industry mentor and access to a London literary agent and script doctor.
Graduates are now writing for a wide range of popular TV dramas including River City, EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, Doctors and Hollyoaks.
Professor and lecturer Ann Marie Di Mambro said: “It is difficult to write for a soap as these are characters you didn’t create, but you need to know them inside out.
“It is fantastic to see the students’ work performed by such a talented performer as Juliet Cadzow, especially as she is a regular in River City.
“Several of our graduates have gone on to work in their story department.”