Girl who wanted to be bad makes good

Raising her eyebrows seductively at the camera and smiling through a haze of cigarette smoke, the actress Carli Norris last week told the Independent she preferred playing "bitch-baddies to lollipop-sucking goodies".

Two days later she landed the role of Eliza "I'm a good girl, I am" Doolittle in the coming West End production of Pygmalion. The part went to Norris, who graduated from RADA two days ago, after Emily Lloyd, star of Wish You Were Here, withdrew after a dispute with her co-star/producer Roy Marsden. Bill Kenwright, the producer, auditioned for six days before choosing Norris, 24. Despite her preference for playing the anti-heroine, the actress, from Woodford, Essex, said landing the part was "beyond her wildest dreams".

The role might not be quite the "bitch-baddie" she had in mind, but Norris was more than happy to stub out her cigarette and become the perfect English rose for photographers yesterday.