Stunning
television star Simone Lahbib has revealed her family's torment at
the hands of cruel Scots racists.
The actress, best-known for her roles in Bad Girls and The Young Person's
Guide To Becoming a Rock Star, and her sister were called names at
their Stirling school because their father was a foreigner.
Simone's grandfather was the son of a sheikh who signed up for the
Foreign Legion and her father Joseph was a French- Algerian cook who
met Simone's Scots mum Jean while he was head chef at Gleneagles Hotel.
Simone, now 33, ended up using her fists to silence the bullies and
although it was some 20 years ago, her green eyes flash with anger
at the memory of the school thugs. She says: "They called me
Froggy and teased me about my name because it sounds different, but
my sister got it worse than me. They called her Paki because she's
got sallow skin. "It was just kids at school. They pick on anything
or anyone that's different, anything that stands out, but I would
never let anyone get away with anything. "I also defended my
sister - I had constant fights."
Sadly, the next generation of the family in the shape of Simone's
niece - her sister's daughter - has had to change schools after she
was bullied at school because of her skin colour.
Simone does not want to name her sister or her niece, but says: "My
niece had lots of trouble at her old school. Lots of bullying and
name-calling, just like my sister, whose skin colour she's inherited.
She was also spat at. "She was a very bright kid and could already
read before she went to school. "But my sister has moved her
to Dunblane and she's blossomed again. The school is great. She gets
lots of attention. And an older child is applied to every young child
to make sure they are all right. "If they are on their own, the
older kids get them involved in games."
Simone has been reluctant to talk about her past. The eldest of five
children, she is fiercely protective of all her family, but she realises
being open about it might help people in similar situations.
Her experiences certainly toughened Simone up and made her more determined
to succeed. And that has meant she hasn't shied away from controversial
roles, not least her latest incarnation - as Helen Stewart in the
prison drama Bad Girls, which is back for a second series on April
4.
The first series caught the public's imagination as the inmates at
the fictitious Larkhill women's prison battled against the wardens,
themselves, suicide, pregnancy and drug habits. Simone played Helen,
the prison governess hated by chauvinist male wardens because she
is a woman boss. The character also began falling into a lesbian relationship
with inmate Nikki Wade, played by Mandana Jones, which led to a kiss
and a fumble in the prison potting shed.
The relationship destroyed Helen's wedding plans and, in the new series,
she grows closer to Nikki, even risking her job to try and get her
lover out on appeal.
Simone's role as Helen has made her a lesbian icon - although Simone
feels Helen is a strong, positive role model for straight and gay
women. She says: "My character isn't gay. She's fallen in love
with another woman. "I have two friends in Australia, one straight
and one gay, who had a painful relationship because the straight one
wanted kids and moved in with a man. "One kiss doesn't make you
a lesbian. It's almost like Helen and Nikki have had a holiday romance."
But Simone admits: "I have had letters from women who've said
they've 'come out' because of Helen and Nikki's relationship. "I
get a lot of gay women writing to me saying we are doing a good job
at Bad Girls, stimulating debate about lesbians, women's issues and
drug abuse. And they've thanked me that we aren't stereotyping lesbians
into big bulldykes." She adds: "A woman from a remote village
sent me a letter. "She had a miserable time because everyone
knew she was gay and the villagers had been hostile, cold, ignored
her or worse. "But after the first series of Bad Girls was screened,
people started to smile at her and she reckoned the programming was
breaking down people's prejudices. "It's quite amazing to get
a letter to say you have this sort of affect on someone."
The only thing about Bad Girls that slightly concerns Simone is the
number of young girls who are fans of the show.
After the first series, the actress was starring in a theatre production
of Playboy Of The Western World, in Leicester, when she was asked
to do a "meet-and-greet" at a local shopping centre to help
publicise the play. She says: "There were loads of teenage girls
there and they all knew exactly who I was and they had all seen the
programme. "I didn't know we had such a young school following
and that made me a little uncomfortable, not simply because of the
lesbianism, but also the drugs and the bullying that was in the first
series."
Simone, who starred as keyboard wizard Fiona in The Young Person's
Guide To Becoming A Rock Star, has also made her mark in television
series like Thief Takers and Dangerfield. But Bad Girls' Helen Stewart
will be the role that will really put her in the public eye.
However, as well as not naming her family, Simone also prefers to
keep the identity of her actor boyfriend a secret.
But, as she is not gay, how hard was it to kiss another woman for
the cameras? Simone laughs like she's heard the question 100 times
- which she probably has - and says: "It is easier to kiss Mandana
(Jones) than male actors because we don't fancy each other, it isn't
sexual. "We are both straight, so it's just acting."
The second series of Bad Girls will chart their tentative relationship
as Helen bends the rules to try and get her would-be lover out on
appeal. One of the main plotlines will be Helen's wish to have children.
She has left the security of a husband and the expected 2.4 children
path - now she has to come to terms with her new life in a lesbian
relationship.
Some viewers may reckon a relationship between a governess and an
inmate is too far fetched, but Simone denies this. She has done a
lot of research, including meeting a former female governess. Simone
reveals: "I had this preconceived idea that she would be middle-aged,
stocky and hard as nails, but she was young, female and very pleasant.
"Like Helen, she went to university as a fast-track to get her
governor badge. "And she agreed on our storylines of suicide,
drugs and the relationships. She said all of those things could happen
... the drama is just more spread out over a longer time period."
Simone also visited a prison and talked to former prisoners and wardens
to make sure the plotlines rang true.
But the most conclusive proof the actress has had that Bad Girls must
be doing something right came by chance. Simone explains: "I
went to a party and met a woman who worked in the prison service.
"She told me it's a programme they all love to hate. They complained
it's more mundane than we portray, but obviously we are making a drama,
so it has to happen quicker."