More pain for Cece:
Nicole Whippy asks for fun times as character suffers.
Shortland Street’s Nicole Whippy is exploring unknown territory as her character Cece King struggles to come to terms with the sudden death of her husband, Ben (Jamie Irvine).
“I can’t imagine what that would feel like but I guess you have to carry on for your children as much as you want to fall apart,” she says.
“However, there are moments where I think you see her go into that pain when there’s no one else around. There’s a scene when she crawls on to the bed with him.”
The actress hopes that after months of storylines so traumatic it took an evening glass of wine or two and “a tub of my husband’s icecream” to cope with the on-set stress, life will start to look up for Cece.
Whippy says she wouldn’t mind a bit of comedy but remains tight-lipped about whether Dr TK Samuels (Ben Mitchell) – who has made no secret of his attraction to Cece – will feature in the life of the newly solo mum.
“Who knows? They have history and, as we know with Shortland Street, all sorts of things can get brought up again,” she says, adding both Cece and her children – and the actors who play them – have some grieving to do first. The King family – Ben, Cece and teenagers Louis (Henry Rolleston) and Sophia (Iana Grace) – arrived in Ferndale in April last year after Ben’s mum Jean (Catherine Wilkin) was diagnosed with dementia. “We really bonded as actors, and as friends, to really sell that family on screen,” Whippy says, adding that the decision to kill off Irvine’s character was totally unexpected. “It was a real shock for all of us. We had no idea that that was coming.” However, the close relationship between the actors meant it wasn’t hard to find the necessary emotions while filming the death scenes. “And the first day that we had to film a scene without him, there were a few tears,” Whippy says.
“As a mum, I really can see where Cece comes from, even though it’s really extreme.”
– Nicole Whippy
“It’s nice when that relationship has crossed over into our lives where we don’t have to search too far inside ourselves to bring up those feelings of real loss with Jamie not being there.”
For Whippy – who became a household name playing Kasey, the best friend of Cheryl West (Robyn Malcolm) in Outrageous Fortune and the at-times neurotic Michelle in Nothing Trivial – the part of Cece has been a roller-coaster ride she didn’t see coming.
“There’s no other show like Shortland Street in New Zealand where you really get to throw yourself into some of the most intense, crazy situations,” she says of playing tiger mum Cece.
Ironically, it is Cece’s determination to protect her disturbed daughter Sophia that leads to Ben’s death.
For weeks, Cece kept it from Ben – and the police – that their daughter intentionally murdered hillbilly Pete and, when it finally did come out, Ben couldn’t cope with learning his daughter was a stone-cold killer.
Then, when he discovered Cece had confessed all to TK (Ben Mitchell) before him – he threw Cece out of the house, hit the bottle and fell asleep on the couch, only to die from smoke inhalation when a
fire broke out in the family home.
Cece’s actions have divided viewers but Whippy – who has two daughters Pearl and Vida with her icecream entrepreneur husband Tommy Holden – has no problem understanding Cece’s desire to protect her family.
“As a mum, I really can see where Cece comes from, even though it’s really extreme,” she says, acknowledging others might not be as understanding.
“My job as an actor is to play my storylines and it’s really nice to feel like I get that character. I’m like, ‘Let’s look at why she makes those decisions’. She’s got a daughter who she felt was under attack so what does she do? Protect, protect, protect. I don’t think until you are a mother of daughters that you get that.”
However, Whippy admits Ben’s death could change the way she treats Sophia, particularly given the teen who has a history of pyromania, was the only one in the house with Ben when the fire broke out.
“My mum’s a maternal mental health nurse so she’s always like, ‘What’s happened to that girl as a child?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know but I’m sure it will come up at some point – that we will actually find out why she’s like she is’.”