The days when I would lock myself in a room, with only my feelings and some snacks for company, to watch teen dramas are long behind me. Or so I thought. Then, in 2013, My Mad Fat Diary came to E4 and I regressed to teenagedom sharpish. The reason? Its star, Sharon Rooney.
As Rae, the Lincolnshire girl who fills the pages of said diary, Rooney, 26, is outstanding: you never feel she is acting with a capital A, even in seriously heavy-duty scenes. Rae has a regular teenager’s preoccupations: boys, school, music, a mum who just doesn’t understand, plus a keen social anxiety around her weight. But she’s also dealing with mental illness, and the show is unflinching in portraying what this means: recovery comes with relapse, and there are no short cuts. All this drama could descend into histrionics, but Rooney’s natural performance makes every scene believable.
As the third and final series draws to a close, Rooney has grown with the role. She has the presence and talent of a far more mature actor (this is her first television role). She’s tall and she’s fat – a rarely seen but welcome combination on my screen – with large eyes and a rosebud mouth. And there is a lot of love for her out there. The fandom, made up mostly of young women, recognise something of themselves in Sharon (and Rae): someone who has not had an easy ride, but is making the best of it. They see acceptance, and celebration. The performance has won her a Bafta nomination and – I think, for her, more importantly – the adoration of a generation of girls.
What a dame.
