Played Pippa Fletcher/Ross
When Debra took over from Vanessa Downing as Pippa, she had a varied stage and film career under her belt, and even appeared in a film with Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep in Evil Angels. Her stage roles included a part in The Brothers Karamazov and in Australia, she worked with an Aboriginal theatre company. She performed in three plays by Jack Davis, the Aboriginal playwright, in Melbourne before going to London with his well known play, No Sugar.
Before her role as Pippa, Debra had done a lot of TV acting, but admits that she rarely watched any soaps. She said that it was really daunting being asked to play the character of Pippa when Vanessa left. Because she was not familiar with Pippa, she had to watch a lot of previous episodes. She admits that it is easy to play a character that has been created, but to play one that was played by someone else, it was quite hard.
One of the best things about working in the soap was that she was surrounded by a young cast, as it gave her a sense of confidence. However, the bad side was the long hours. When she did stage work, she was used to having the whole day to herself and working in the evenings, whereas she had to get up early for Home and Away and work long days. |
