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Page 3 Profile: Jessica Hynes, actress

The low-down on today's newsworthy names

Liam O'Brien
Thursday 26 July 2012 11:06 BST
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Hugh Bonneville with Jessica Hynes by the 'Twenty Twelve' countdown clock
Hugh Bonneville with Jessica Hynes by the 'Twenty Twelve' countdown clock

Here's the thing…

Twenty Twelve, the BBC's hugely popular send-up of the chaos behind the scenes of the London Olympics, has come to an end. Whether Head of Deliverance Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) and his doe-eyed PA (Olivia Colman) will get together, we may never know, and the bitter battles between Sustainability and Legacy look like they will never be resolved. But the show's real star was the clueless "Head of Brand", Siobhan Sharpe, played by Jessica Hynes.

Totally.

Along with her team of East End trendies at branding firm Perfect Curve, Siobhan spoke only in buzz-wordy PR nonsense and came up with unworkable ideas that baffled her more straightforward boss. There was the countdown clock that counted back in time, the campaign about women's football that never mentioned football, and the ill-fated "Jubilympics". Her character struck a nerve with viewers familiar with such corporate drivel in their own working environments.

So what's next for Hynes?

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger, a Christmas film with David Tennant.

Not a move to Hollywood?

In some ways, Hynes is rather like Cheryl, the Royle Family character that made her famous. Not in the sense that she likes to take two plates of food at the buffet, but rather that she seems to enjoy hiding in the background. Her Spaced co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have gone on to big things in Hollywood, but as Hynes herself says: "I'm more kind of mildew than that. That's the thing about me. I'm quite lo-fi. What I'm doing is more than enough. I feel lucky when I think about my little fatso goofball self."

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