Lady Penelope is more that a puppet icon, she's a role model for young children, says actress Sophia Myles who talks to Steve Pratt about her role in the new Thunderbirds.

Turning Thunderbirds puppet icon Lady Penelope into a flesh and blood character proved a painful experience for actress Sophia Myles. A bath scene caused the problem for the vicar's daughter who plays pretty-in-pink Lady P in the live action film based on the 1960s puppet series.

She's shown relaxing in a bath, sipping tea served by manservant and chauffeur Parker. Myles, who turned down a place studying philosophy at Cambridge to pursue an acting career, spent several days up to her neck in a hot bubble bath shooting the scene.

"I think they used a really cheap bubble bath because they wanted something that had big bubbles. My skin started to itch. I ended up going to a dermatologist. I had a rash all over my body and skin like an alligator by the end of the week," she recalls.

For Ron Cook, who plays Parker, the difficulty was of a mechanical nature - driving secret agent Lady Penelope's pink car, FAB1, now a Ford rather than a Rolls Royce as in the original. The vehicle is roadworthy but, at 28ft long and with six wheels, parking in central London isn't easy, he jokes. The car is capable of going over 100mph but the actor didn't get the chance to put his foot down.

"When we've been out in it, it causes crashes because other drivers stare and go into the car in front," he says.

"I had to drive it once. At first, they wouldn't let me near it. It's quite tricky because it doesn't have a steering wheel. It has a joystick with a crossbar on it so it's actually difficult to turn. You have to drive as if you're driving a forklift truck."

Both were aware that portraying two such iconic characters was a risky business. Myles sees her Lady Penelope as more Joanna Lumley than Sylvia Anderson, who provided the voice for the puppet series.

"We sat down and watched all the DVDs of Thunderbirds and obviously studied them very closely, but we're not trying to copy them.

"We wanted to do the originals justice but at the same time give it a fresh twist," she says.

Cook's first reaction to being offered the part was "Great!", followed by "Oh, god, because it's a huge and heavy mantle to wear. You couldn't better the original and it would be wrong just to copy. We had to honour the original and make it our own."

The pair had different approaches to action scenes in which they fight the baddies. "It was the most exercise I've ever done in my life," says Myles.

"We had a great group of stunt co-ordinators and just broke the sequence down day by day, bit by bit. Obviously our fighting styles are very different. Lady P is very acrobatic and elegant, whereas Parker is..."

"...an ex-boxer," chips in Cook. "We trained quite hard. I quite enjoyed it. I thought boxing in three minute rounds, that's nothing is it? Ginger, my stand-in, used to stand at the side and say, 'Do you want to do this, Ron?' and I said, 'Yeah, I'll do it'. So I did all the stunts myself and have the bruises to prove it."

Myles admits to having two stunt doubles for a kick-boxing fight "so any time I look cool in that sequence, it ain't me".

The role fulfilled her criteria of doing different roles that present a challenge. "The fantastic thing about Lady Penelope is that the character is such a positive role model for young children.

"She's bright, intelligent, funny, strong and sexy without being provocative. It's nice to have a role model who's not dancing around with her midriff showing and everything hanging out," she says.

Myles and Cook's first week of filming was in the Seychelles. But they only worked for one day, the rest of the time was spent snorkelling and just having a fantastic time.

"We went out to shoot this one particular scene and it was cut from the film, although I've just heard it's back in during the end credits," says Myles.

The scene involved FAB1 landing on Tracy Island and being fired on by villain, The Hood. "I had to say, 'Pardon me, m'lady, but there appears to be a torpedo rapidly approaching our starboard side'," says Cook.

"And I was drinking pink champagne," adds Myles.

The pair abandon ship with the car turning into a pink pedalo, with Parker at the pedals. "We shot in the midday sun in the Seychelles and you burn even with factor 60 on. I have never seen anyone turn physically green before," recalls Myles.

Cook has his own memories: "They towed us out to the middle of the water for a helicopter shot and I'm in full uniform. I'm pedalling away like mad and the helicopter goes for another shot. It nearly killed me."

* Thunderbirds (PG) opens in cinemas tomorrow.

Published: 22/07/2004