Zoe Tapper: Sex and the shop-floor showgirl
While other actresses might kick up a fuss at the slightly kitsch play on their name, Zoë Tapper is
tap-dancing for our photographer with the poise of a professional hoofer. And why worry? After all, our styling idea, she says, is in keeping with her latest role as the singing, dancing Gaiety Girl Ellen Love in ITV’s Mr Selfridge. This glitzy, ten-part period drama tracks the origins of our shopping obsession right back to the American Harry Selfridge, founder of the iconic Oxford Street store.
tap-dancing for our photographer with the poise of a professional hoofer. And why worry? After all, our styling idea, she says, is in keeping with her latest role as the singing, dancing Gaiety Girl Ellen Love in ITV’s Mr Selfridge. This glitzy, ten-part period drama tracks the origins of our shopping obsession right back to the American Harry Selfridge, founder of the iconic Oxford Street store.
The drama is set to be the TV event of the autumn. It is scripted by Andrew Davies, who based the story on Lindy Woodhead’s book Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge, and has breathtaking sets. (A large carpet warehouse in Neasden, Northwest London, has been converted into a circa 1909 Selfridges shop floor.) The impressive cast is led by Jeremy Piven – Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning star of US series Entourage – as Mr Selfridge. Zoë’s role as his beautiful but tortured mistress will be unmissable.
In coming months, Zoë, 30, whose CV already includes starring roles in the TV dramas Survivors, Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky and Affinity (another Andrew Davies project), will be popping up all over the place. She’s also in two British movies: the cop thriller Blood and the romcom Cheerful Weather for the Wedding with Felicity Jones and Downton’s Elizabeth McGovern.
Still, work these days must be fitted in around family life. She is married to actor Oliver Dimsdale and they have a 17-month-old daughter, Ava. Here Zoë tells us why the happy collision of motherhood and the role of a lifetime could not have been more perfectly choreographed…
I was determined to get the role of Ellen. The morning of the audition I travelled into town in
a faux-fur coat, a bright red dress, fake diamond earrings and siren red lips. I got some funny looks but I didn’t care because I felt very Ellen Love-ish. And I got the part, so it was worth it.
You could easily hate Ellen. She’s a potential marriage wrecker. But I had so much sympathy
for her. Harry lusts after her. He sets her up in an apartment and makes her the face of Selfridges. But once he owns her she’s like a trinket that’s lost its lustre. He discards her and she spirals out of control.
Ellen has so much vulnerability. She reminds me of Marilyn Monroe or Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She’s a social butterfly, blowing kisses to the crowds, but she has gossamer wings.
Harry Selfridge wanted to make shopping as thrilling as sex. He came up with concepts such as ‘The customer is always right’ and ‘Try before you buy’. He believed products should be displayed, not hidden under counters. In a way, his ideas went hand in hand with the suffragette movement. He made shopping respectable and liberated women in the process. He also built Selfridges in a rundown part of London, where others followed. So the fact that the West End is now a shopping mecca is largely down to him.
The beauty of a period drama is that the clothes are so different to what women wear now. When you put them on you immediately feel different. You move differently too. You can’t slouch in a corset or in one of the big hats that Ellen wears.
Still, work these days must be fitted in around family life. She is married to actor Oliver Dimsdale and they have a 17-month-old daughter, Ava. Here Zoë tells us why the happy collision of motherhood and the role of a lifetime could not have been more perfectly choreographed…
I was determined to get the role of Ellen. The morning of the audition I travelled into town in
a faux-fur coat, a bright red dress, fake diamond earrings and siren red lips. I got some funny looks but I didn’t care because I felt very Ellen Love-ish. And I got the part, so it was worth it.
You could easily hate Ellen. She’s a potential marriage wrecker. But I had so much sympathy
for her. Harry lusts after her. He sets her up in an apartment and makes her the face of Selfridges. But once he owns her she’s like a trinket that’s lost its lustre. He discards her and she spirals out of control.
Ellen has so much vulnerability. She reminds me of Marilyn Monroe or Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She’s a social butterfly, blowing kisses to the crowds, but she has gossamer wings.
Harry Selfridge wanted to make shopping as thrilling as sex. He came up with concepts such as ‘The customer is always right’ and ‘Try before you buy’. He believed products should be displayed, not hidden under counters. In a way, his ideas went hand in hand with the suffragette movement. He made shopping respectable and liberated women in the process. He also built Selfridges in a rundown part of London, where others followed. So the fact that the West End is now a shopping mecca is largely down to him.
The beauty of a period drama is that the clothes are so different to what women wear now. When you put them on you immediately feel different. You move differently too. You can’t slouch in a corset or in one of the big hats that Ellen wears.
'I've wanted to act since I was 12'
The cocaine-snorting scenes were a hoot. Andrew Davies always likes to inject a bit of naughtiness to give his scripts a modern feel. Opium was possibly more the drug of choice in those days, but cocaine is Ellen’s poison. Before putting it up my nose, I made the props department tell me what was in it – mostly flour and lactose powder. I made them take a bit themselves, though – just to be on the safe side.
‘You could easily hate Ellen. She’s a social butterfly, but I had so much sympathy for her’
Andrew Davies understands that human emotions are universal. No matter what the period, people still fall in love, they get angry, things get messy in relationships. He doesn’t say, ‘Well, here’s your stereotypical corset-wearing heroine.’ He says, ‘Here are some real people who just happen to be living in 1909 rather than 2012.’
Actresses have to be up for anything. In Mr Selfridge I do a dance number in pink pyjamas while hurling teddy bears into the audience from the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. There’s also a scene where Ellen poses as the face of Selfridges, on the wing of Blériot’s historic, Channel-crossing plane. [They managed to get a replica inside the Neasden set, just as Harry had managed to get the real thing into the store in 1909.] She’s draped in scarves like Isadora Duncan. It was fun but, then, I think I got forgotten. I was shouting, ‘Yoo-hoo, I’m still up here. Don’t lock up and go home. I do have a life to get back to!’
Working with Jeremy Piven has caused hysteria among my male friends. Any of them who saw him as Ari Gold in Entourage have a massive crush on him. I hadn’t seen the show myself, so it had to be explained to me that Ari was a charismatic, swaggering celebrity agent who was a total rottweiler where his clients were concerned. A god among men! My brother Jonathan, who normally isn’t impressed by my co-stars, said, ‘Zoë, you need to become best friends with him, so I can become best friends with him too.’
Acting is in my DNA. The gene skipped my parents’ generation (my mum Yvonne was a teacher, my dad Robin was a wine buyer) but my great-grandfather ran a touring theatre company and my great aunt Sybil was a dancer with George Formby. I dug up wonderful pictures of her and her chorus-line friends before playing Ellen Love.
I’ve wanted to act since I was 12. A neighbour asked me to play a fairy in a local production of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I was hooked. At 18, I was given a place to study English at university. It probably would have been great, but I knew in my heart that acting was the thing. I told
my mum, ‘I want to go to drama school instead.’ She said, ‘Then do it. If you have a plan A, don’t go for plan B because it will never make you happy.’ It was the best advice I ever got.
Actresses have to be up for anything. In Mr Selfridge I do a dance number in pink pyjamas while hurling teddy bears into the audience from the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. There’s also a scene where Ellen poses as the face of Selfridges, on the wing of Blériot’s historic, Channel-crossing plane. [They managed to get a replica inside the Neasden set, just as Harry had managed to get the real thing into the store in 1909.] She’s draped in scarves like Isadora Duncan. It was fun but, then, I think I got forgotten. I was shouting, ‘Yoo-hoo, I’m still up here. Don’t lock up and go home. I do have a life to get back to!’
Working with Jeremy Piven has caused hysteria among my male friends. Any of them who saw him as Ari Gold in Entourage have a massive crush on him. I hadn’t seen the show myself, so it had to be explained to me that Ari was a charismatic, swaggering celebrity agent who was a total rottweiler where his clients were concerned. A god among men! My brother Jonathan, who normally isn’t impressed by my co-stars, said, ‘Zoë, you need to become best friends with him, so I can become best friends with him too.’
Acting is in my DNA. The gene skipped my parents’ generation (my mum Yvonne was a teacher, my dad Robin was a wine buyer) but my great-grandfather ran a touring theatre company and my great aunt Sybil was a dancer with George Formby. I dug up wonderful pictures of her and her chorus-line friends before playing Ellen Love.
I’ve wanted to act since I was 12. A neighbour asked me to play a fairy in a local production of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I was hooked. At 18, I was given a place to study English at university. It probably would have been great, but I knew in my heart that acting was the thing. I told
my mum, ‘I want to go to drama school instead.’ She said, ‘Then do it. If you have a plan A, don’t go for plan B because it will never make you happy.’ It was the best advice I ever got.
'I lost the baby weight quite quickly. But it’s annoying when women say, "Oh, I’m lucky. I’m just naturally skinny."’
I’ve only ever known my dad to cry twice. And one of the times was when I rang him to say I’d been accepted at Central School of Speech & Drama. He knew it meant so much to me, so it meant so much to him. He is an amazing family man.
I’ve found another good man in Ollie. He has such a lovely relationship with Ava. When I see them together I think, ‘All men should have a daughter.’
I knew early on that Ollie was The One. He was different to all the other guys I’d ever known. Mind you, when we met at a friend’s party he didn’t ask for my phone number immediately, which I’ve made him regret ever since! But once he asked me out, we did fall in love incredibly quickly.
My mum knew, too. Ollie and I hadn’t been going out long when I introduced him to my parents over
a restaurant dinner. As they were leaving, my mum looked at us and said, ‘Look after each other, for ever.’ I was like, ‘Mum! That’s a bit full-on!’ But looking back, of course she knew.
Ollie and I both come from strong unions. My parents have been married for 40 years and
his even longer. So marriage seemed like the right thing for us too. People roll their eyes and say, ‘Oh, two actors in one marriage.’ But for us it works. Who else
can understand your life better than another actor?
We always knew we wanted children. Having Ava means we’re not just connected by law but by blood. It’s such a strong feeling. I see her little eyebrows – two little drawbridges – just like Ollie’s. It’s incredible.
I’ve grown as an actress too. I feel things so much more keenly and can instantly tap into my emotions. In fact, I’m always teetering on the edge of tears. The other day I was driving with Ava in the rain. She started pointing and saying, ‘Muma! Muma!’ I worked out that she was excited by the windscreen wipers. You start to see the wonder in everything again.
Mums are sometimes their own worst enemies. I try not to buy into the whole, ‘My baby was walking at nine months’ competitive thing. Why don’t we all just give each other a break?
I lost the baby weight quite quickly. But it’s annoying when women say, ‘Oh, I’m lucky. I’m just naturally skinny.’ In my case, I walked everywhere with the buggy after Ava was born and ate sensibly. I thought I might go to the gym, but it never happened. Now, I do a bit of yoga or pilates at home while Ava sleeps.
Zoe with her husband, the actor Oliver Dimsdale
Leaving Ava to return to work was so hard. My first job back, when she was a year old, was the movie Blood. We were filming in Liverpool and I sobbed all the way there on the train.
I wouldn’t be ashamed to show my post-baby body on screen. Women’s bodies change – mine has – and we should celebrate it. I’ve always admired Kate Winslet. She has a lovely body, but it’s not a perfect Hollywood size zero. It’s the body of a woman who’s had children.
As an actress, though, I’m careful about nudity. There’s a danger in our industry for women to feel pressurised to take their clothes off. I’ve certainly done it, but only, I hope, where the script and the character required it. In Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky I took off my clothes because I was playing a prostitute. What else would you expect? But I can’t bear it when you’re looking at breasts on screen for no particular reason. At this stage, I think I know the difference.
Working on the drama made me yearn to shop. I don’t have any desire to schlep down Oxford Street, but being surrounded every day on set by the kind of beautiful objects that would have been sold in the store in those days did make me feel I should reacquaint myself with Selfridges today. Maybe I could have an Ellen Love moment on the shop floor!
I was lucky enough to work with Lauren Bacall. It was in the movie These Foolish Things in 2006, when I was starting out. I was playing a stage wannabe and Lauren was a grande dame. She had to say to me, ‘I’d give anything to be where you are now.’ And I said, ‘Where’s that?’ She said, ‘At the beginning.’ After the shot she turned around and said, ‘It’s true. I would give anything!’ I’ll never forget it. To be young and to be a working actress with everything before you is a privilege.
I wouldn’t be ashamed to show my post-baby body on screen. Women’s bodies change – mine has – and we should celebrate it. I’ve always admired Kate Winslet. She has a lovely body, but it’s not a perfect Hollywood size zero. It’s the body of a woman who’s had children.
As an actress, though, I’m careful about nudity. There’s a danger in our industry for women to feel pressurised to take their clothes off. I’ve certainly done it, but only, I hope, where the script and the character required it. In Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky I took off my clothes because I was playing a prostitute. What else would you expect? But I can’t bear it when you’re looking at breasts on screen for no particular reason. At this stage, I think I know the difference.
Working on the drama made me yearn to shop. I don’t have any desire to schlep down Oxford Street, but being surrounded every day on set by the kind of beautiful objects that would have been sold in the store in those days did make me feel I should reacquaint myself with Selfridges today. Maybe I could have an Ellen Love moment on the shop floor!
I was lucky enough to work with Lauren Bacall. It was in the movie These Foolish Things in 2006, when I was starting out. I was playing a stage wannabe and Lauren was a grande dame. She had to say to me, ‘I’d give anything to be where you are now.’ And I said, ‘Where’s that?’ She said, ‘At the beginning.’ After the shot she turned around and said, ‘It’s true. I would give anything!’ I’ll never forget it. To be young and to be a working actress with everything before you is a privilege.
Mr Selfridge is on ITV1, Sundays at 9pm, with catch-up available on ITVPlayer
What’s Zoe tapping in to?
- Listening to I love oldies like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra.
Frank Sinatra - Reading Caitlin Moran’s How to Be a Woman. I loved her frankness, the fact that she’s not afraid to stand up and call herself a feminist.
- Style icons 1940s actresses such as Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Lauren Bacall. They encapsulated both strength and femininity.
- Favourite city I’m a London girl, born and bred, and I’m so proud of our city.
- Most like to be stuck in a lift with… Stephen Graham, whose partner I played in the movie Blood. I was so starstruck when I met him that I gushed, ‘I think you’re the best actor in the whole world!’ He must have thought, ‘Who is this lunatic I’m about to work with?’
London - Beauty Product Mascara is the only make-up item I won’t do without. My current favourite is Max Factor False Lash Effect.
- Designers Vivienne Westwood for anything tailored and Alice Temperley when I want something pretty.
Lauren Bacall - Saving Up to convert the loft in our Victorian terraced house in Southeast London.
- Recently splurged on Nothing, really, because I’m not much of a shopper. Mr Selfridge believed that shopping should be as enjoyable as sex. He’d be ashamed of me!
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