Sharon Small: I have a stupidly busy schedule

Depending on the demographic, viewers will recognise Sharon Small for different roles. “If you’re from Germany or slightly older then it’s The Inspector Lynley Mysteries,” she smiles. “Or if you’re a woman my age [which is 48] then it’s usually from Mistresses.”

You may remember Sharon from Call The Midwife or Downton Abbey but, as she explains, “I sometimes change my hair colour for roles, so people take a while to realise before they say, ‘Of course, that was you.’”

Sharon has played countless roles on TV, the stage and in films in a career spanning more than 20 years. She’s starred alongside everyone from Hugh Grant in About 

A Boy to fellow Scot Gerard Butler in Dear Frankie. But it was the TV series Mistresses that firmly established her on-screen status.

Acting wasn’t something Sharon’s family thought she would choose. The eldest of five children, she was born in Glasgow but the family moved to Kinghorn in Fife when she was seven. 

“I was the sort of person who just got in everyone’s way by squawking and doing handstands everywhere. 

I think I surprised people when I said what I wanted to do as a job, as it didn’t look like it was massively in my character. I don’t think I was show-offy – I just couldn’t keep still.”

It was Forrest Gump star Sally Field who first made Sharon think about acting as a career.

“Sally’s been an inspiration,” she reveals. “I was about 14 when I first saw her playing a young woman with multiple personalities in Sybil and I remember thinking, ‘How does she do that? I want to do that and portray different lives.’ Acting is all about being in a different universe.”

After completing a year-long foundation arts course at what is now Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy (whose alumni include actors Ewan McGregor and Dougray Scott), Sharon moved to London to study at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

And while she is still based in London with her partner, photographer Dan Bridge, 42, and their two sons Leo, eight, and Zac, four, she likes to get back to Scotland when she can – not only to see her family but also to support its drama.

“There’s not a lot of Scottish drama on telly,” she says. “So it’s always exciting to be part of one.”

In the two-part drama Stonemouth, Sharon plays Connie, the wife of the head of a notorious criminal family. It’s the first TV adaptation of a work by acclaimed Scottish author Iain Banks since his death in 2013. His books are generally quite dark – and that’s what appealed to Sharon. 

“I’m a big Iain Banks fan,” she says. “He was definitely formative for me in my early twenties. I’ve read most of his fiction, as most Scottish people do because they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s a Scottish novelist!’ 

“My part’s not massive, but she’s very pivotal because she’s the mother of this very influential and difficult family and she’s lost her son.

She’s a woman who’s borne children to essentially a gangster, played by Peter Mullan, so she’s lived in a family with danger at its heart.

“I grew up in Fife, so I could picture so much of Iain’s writing and his references are so recognisable to me. His characters can be crazy but they’re really identifiable. I don’t know if I have an affinity with all the themes of the piece, as they’re quite extreme.” 

Sharon has vivid memories of her childhood on the east coast of Scotland.

“From my old bedroom window, I used to look across at a lighthouse and the whole of Edinburgh, and it’s where all my dreams of wanting to explore the world came from,” she says. “I still hold that view dear in my head, even though my parents aren’t in that house any more. 

The east coast of Scotland is much rougher and less pretty than the west coast, as it’s less forgiving and greyer. But there’s something rough and raw about it that I love.

“Stonemouth is supposed to be an east-coast town near to Aberdeen, so the exteriors were done in a place called Macduff, which is very beautiful. Often Scottish-based dramas tend to be all about the darker side of Scotland, so it’s lovely when you can incorporate the beauty and the scale of the landscape.”

Unfortunately, Sharon didn’t get much time to catch up with family and friends when she was filming Stonemouth because she would head back to London to be with her children and husband when she had time off.

Dan gave up his job as a lighting designer to be a stay-at-home dad when Zac was born because Sharon was filming the second series of Mistresses at the time. But he has retrained as a photographer and although he’s still the primary carer, the couple share parenting as much as they can.

“Dan has his photography projects, so he has quite a lot of juggling going on,” she says. “We just roll with the punches and as soon as I can do more at home, then I do.

“I used to be more selective when the kids were smaller as I didn’t want to go away for too long, but you’ve got to keep on working and the boys are old enough to understand now. 

“There also isn’t a huge number of parts for women my age, so you have to take what you can. I don’t want to moan about it, but there’s a pond of really fantastic actresses from the ages of 45 to 60 that are all going for the same roles.”

Sharon and three other brilliant actresses, Shelley Conn, Orla Brady and Sarah Parish, teamed up for Mistresses and they stay in touch.

“It was so amazing to meet three beautiful, interesting women. They are all strong, gorgeous women and I’m really pleased that I met them,” says Sharon. “You think you’ve made your friends by your thirties but then you become a parent and you start making new friends – then I worked with Shelley, Orla and Sarah and we all just clicked.”

At the moment, Sharon’s social life is on the back burner. When we catch up with her, she’s been at rehearsals for the play Luna Gale, in which she plays the lead role of Caroline Cox. It will be at London’s Hampstead Theatre from June 13. She has also recently starred as The Singer in Carmen Disruption at the Almeida in London. 

And while plenty of friends have been to see her in Carmen Disruption, her sons haven’t seen anything she’s been in. “It’s all been too grown up,” she explains. 

So at the moment, time spent at home is precious. 

“Sometimes when I’m filming a series I can’t get back to see them, so I like to be able to mix it up as much as I can. I would love to do more films, but staying working is the aim. Some actors can get incredibly charmed journeys to the top, but if it doesn’t work out then it can be really hard.

“At the moment I have a stupidly busy schedule, which is rare for an actor but it’s great. The next play is going to take me up until mid-July and then I really hope to get away with my family for the summer holidays. When you’re doing eight shows a week, that’s six bedtimes you’re missing.” 

Stonemouth starts on the BBC next month.