A pop star with a point to prove

Left on the scrapheap at 21 when Hear’Say split up, Noel Sullivan’s just landed his first big TV role in BBC1’s hit drama Ordinary Lies

Remember Noel Sullivan from charttoppers Hear’Say? Well, the darkhaired one in the band that won ITV talent show Popstars 15 years ago is now driving a forklift truck round a warehouse in South Wales. Happily it’s not a case of how the mighty have fallen. On the contrary, it’s proof that Noel’s back in the spotlight with his first major TV role.

Noel plays Neil Sutherland in the second series of BBC1 drama Ordinary Lies, the hit show written by Danny Brocklehurst that delves into the secrets and lies of a group of people who work together. Series one, which regularly pulled in six million viewers last year, was based at a car showroom in the north-west of England. Max Beesley played the boss Mike, whose 15-year- old daughter fell for a friend of her father’s when he came to stay, while Mackenzie Crook was salesman Pete, who was being blackmailed by a woman he had an affair with years earlier. As the series panned out, their lies came back to haunt them.

Series two of what Brocklehurst calls ‘a modern morality tale’ is set at Cooper’s, a sports goods manufacturer in South Wales, and features new characters and a fresh bundle of lies. Angela Griffin appears as the company’s general manager Jenna Moss, a woman with a dark past, Matt Di Angelo – Dean Wicks in EastEnders – is warehouse worker Fletch while Griff Rhys Jones, making his first TV acting appearance for more than a decade, plays Fletch’s father.

Noel’s character Neil is also the boyfriend of Holly Pryce, played by Fresh Meat’s Kimberley Nixon, the general manager’s PA. She believes everybody else is having more fun than her so starts telling bigger and bigger lies to appear more interesting on social media. But her porkies get the better of her when she assumes a false online identity to win back an old flame.

Noel clearly had a ball playing Neil, particularly the clinches with Kimberley. ‘ She’s been great, always there for me if I need advice, which is what you want in your first big TV role,’ says Noel, now 36. ‘Some of what we had to do was tricky, such as a scene in Holly’s flat where we were kissing each other while taking our clothes off. We were trying not to bang our heads together or knock anything off the wall. It actually wasn’t sexy at all.’ Noel’s scenes on the forkNoel (top right)

in Hear’Say lift truck were less bumpy. He’s rather proud of the fact he took to driving one like a duck to water. ‘ I had lessons and nailed it in four and a half hours,’ he grins. ‘I hope it’s a skill I never have to call on in real life although I now have a qualification that will last me for five years.’ Back in 2001 Hear’Say were the manufactured group that won Popstars, the forerunner to everything from Pop Idol to The X Factor. Comprised of Myleene Klass, Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, Danny Foster and Noel, their first single Pure And Simple and album Popstars both went straight to number one, making them the first act to top both UK charts simultaneously with their debut releases. But in 2002, after their second album flopped and a tour had to be cancelled because of poor ticket sales, they went their separate ways. It was a challenging time, admits Noel. ‘I won’t pretend it was easy, it was shaky at times after the band broke up. I’d been thrown on the scrapheap aged 21, told I had nothing going for me and I couldn’t get seen for any kind of part. What I had to do was persevere and I suppose I’m proof that if you stick to your chosen path – in my case musical theatre – you can be successful.

‘ Hear’Say was an amazing, exciting, heartbreaking experience and it taught me so much about life, but I wouldn’t go back to it. Not for all the money in the world. Driving a forklift truck and getting passionate with Kimberley Nixon is much more enjoyable!’

Ordinary Lies starts on 18 October at 9pm on BBC1.

Noel (far left) with his Ordinary Lies co-stars including Kimberley Nixon (centre)