Character: Pamela Bennett
Actor: Selina Cadell
Episode: Among the Few

Selina Cadell was determined to bring a colourful touch to henpecked wife Pamela Bennett.

"Pamela has been sublimated by an overbearing husband who doesn't listen to her. The marriage has got to a point where she is not listened to or respected and has to watch her husband flirting with endless young girls. It's hurtful because she would have liked the marriage to work.

"Although she appears to be stuck, she is quite feisty underneath. She has a strong centre and still has a good sense of self-esteem. She is very efficient and plotting very wisely. She is more layered than she appears and has a bit of a surprise to her.

"The director and I discussed how we would dress Pamela and we didn't want to put her into a henpecked corner of drabness. We made her quite attractive, which made her husband's behaviour look even worse. Rather than looking buttoned up or like a schoolmistress she appears more real."

Foyle's War comes during a busy year for Selina. "I have been working in the theatre, at the Donmar Warehouse in Sam Mendes' productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya, then we took the plays to Broadway, which was fabulous."

When she's not acting, Selina works with opera singers at the National Opera Studio.

"I teach them how to act because on the whole opera singers have just been taught the music. To perform they have to be taught how to engage with the emotional weight of what they are singing. It's an organic process and I love it because they are so eager to learn. Once they can connect with an aria emotionally, it becomes more natural and less technical.

"I've been doing it for 10 years and I would never give it up. I get to hear international up-and-coming opera singers and the work means I can be selective about my acting roles."

Selina's other credits include My Hero, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Down To Earth, As Time Goes By and Always and Everyone. Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, The Madness of King George and Prick Up Your Ears are among her film work.

October 2003; Publicity Release