australian television information archive

This Saint is a sinner

Sibylla Budd has her claws out on All Saints, writes Sarah Nicholson

SIBYLLA Budd jokes that she would like her three-month stint on All Saints to result in a Gold Logie or an AFI award.

But when she has a moment to think about it, Budd becomes more serious and says that she would like her time on the long-running medical drama to show the audience that she can play something other than the "good girl".

"I jumped at the chance for the audience to see me in another role," Budd says.

"I have played straight, good-girl roles up to now and it's so much fun playing someone who I can get my teeth into.

"She is the show's new nasty nurse and I loved that the producers wanted to steer away from making her a black-and-white evil character.

"They wanted to give her more layers and that was intriguing to me as an actor."

Budd, who got her big break playing Gabrielle Kovich on Secret Life of Us in 2001, has been able to tap into her own sense of ambition to play the determined All Saints nurse unit manager Deanna Richardson.

"I found the character had to be genuine, so I make my desires her desires but just stronger," she says.

"I want to succeed in life, and that's what Deanna wants but just 10 times more, and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants, so I try to take that tiny seed of what I have and exploit it in her.

"I have tried to make it ridiculous because I wanted people to sympathise with her and then, the next minute, she does something to show she is such a bitch."

Budd says walking on to the All Saints set last year was almost like walking into enemy territory because of her long run on Secret Life ofUs.

"It was a different world," she says.

"All Saints has been going for eight years, and stepping into a show that's established is hard, but the first episode was all about my character being out of her depth and that was easy for me to play."

Budd says the technical side of filming All Saints was something else she had to adjust to, with the medical drama a two-camera production compared with the one camera used to create Secret Life of Us.

"Secret Life was shot on film as well, so a lot more work went into lighting, and it took more time to set things up," Budd says.

"This is much faster than I am used to, which is exhausting, but I love that I don't have to think about where the camera is and I can go through a scene without being too aware of playing to the camera."

All Saints, Seven,Tuesdays 9.30pm

By Sarah Nicholson
February 23, 2006
The Courier Mail