Grace meant Brighton return for Victoria Emslie

“It was gorgeous to be back there filming,” says Victoria who played Gaia Lafayette in the concluding episode of season three in the TV adaptation of Peter James’ massively successful Brighton-based Roy Grace detective series.

Victoria said: “I’m a English/Scottish actor with an MA Arabic and French from University of St Andrews and MA acting for screen from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. People say my face belongs to the past, and I would agree with them; and I have spent my career happily weaving through the sands of time from The Frankenstein Chronicles – where I first met (Grace star) Richie (Campbell) – to Downton Abbey, The Danish Girl, 12 Monkeys, The Theory Of Everything and now Grace.

“Grace was an incredibly special job for so many reasons. I was able to return to Brighton for a month to film and loved re-immersing myself in life there near to where I grew up. I worked with Richie again, who is one of the most generous actors, who always knows the right thing to say and just a proper laugh to be around. The same could be said for all the incredible actors I had the joy of sharing these moments with. We spent an entire day shooting the gig scene at Concorde 2 in Brighton, and by the end of it, the whole band were ready to go on tour with our one hit song. It’s undeniably catchy; Matthew Slater, the composer for Grace, knocked it out of the park. I’ve asked him if he has an album in him… only time will tell.

“When I first read the breakdown for the character of Gaia, Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine was one of the references. After consuming what could only be described as her entire back catalogue of interviews and performances, and finding out that she is dyspraxic, like myself, I felt like I suddenly understood the essence of Gaia because she really wasn’t that far away from who I am. As someone who would study the song lyrics contained within every CD album I bought, and who hasn’t learnt a single song all the way through since then, I knew that sitting down to learn the lyrics and timings for Poison Lover was going to be one of my greater challenges. I must have listened to the song around 500 times and it still comes up in my dreamscapes from time to time since we wrapped. It’s that good.

“What was particularly special about the character of Gaia is how collaborative the preparation process was. Unlike other characters within the crime genre, Gaia needed to believably be a rising rock star, with a colourful and distinctive look and feel to her. Working closely with Emily Porter and Alice Mason, these vivacious hair and make-up looks came to life – alongside Barbara Elum who put together all her eclectic costumes. We even shot seven album covers which were used as props and set dressing. The amount of detail, love and care the whole team put into creating this world, made it incredibly easy to step into. Our director Will Sinclair and producer Kiaran Murray Smith helped navigate character choices and conversations which could have been hard to access, with care and safety. Gaia is a role which will stay in my heart for many years to come.”

Victoria added: “Last year I received my French talent visa and split my time between London and Paris from where I taped for the role of Gaia Lafayette. Having grown up in and around Brighton, it was as if the stars aligned. Alongside this, I run a global visibility platform called Primetime, which I bootstrapped and launched at Cannes Film Festival in 2019, to help our industry find and hire more women and underrepresented voices behind the camera, as changing this conversation changes the types of stories and characters we see on screen.

“This curiosity to do things differently, to improve on yesterday is something I cherish and try to engage with.”