Dani Harmer has revealed there were times in her life when she ‘didn’t want to be Tracy Beaker anymore’ as she returns to the role for a new spin-off, My Mum Tracy Beaker.
The actress, 32, who has been starring as the fiery kid from the Jacqueline Wilson books of the same name since she was 12, admitted that she didn’t expect to still be playing that role.
She told the Independent: ‘If somebody had told me that I would still be talking about Tracy Beaker at 32, I’d have been like “Really?” But here we are.’
Dani admitted that she had tried to distance herself from Tracy in the past, adding: ‘I went through a stage when I was younger where I was like, “I just don’t want to be Tracy Beaker anymore”.
‘[But it’s] a kind of blessing. For me to be able to nurture this one character throughout different aspects of her life has been such a treat and it is really rare for an actor to be able to do that.’
In My Mum Tracy Beaker, which arrives on Friday, February 12, viewers will be able to revisit the character as she navigates being a single mother to her own 10-year-old daughter and a relationship with a millionaire footballer.
Dani believes the new incarnation of the character might have been inspired by her becoming a parent herself to her now four-year-old daughter Avarie-Belle.
She explained: ‘When I first heard about the book My Mum Tracy Beaker, I was like “I wonder if Jacqueline knows I’ve just had a child and that’s what sparked the idea?”’
Previously fans were able to watch Tracy navigate life at the Dumping Ground in the original series from 2002, as well as catching up with the character in 2010’s The Return of Tracy Beaker, in which she returned to the children’s home to work as a care assistant.
My Mum Tracy Beaker airs on CBBC and BBC iPlayer at 5pm on February 12.
Credit: Original article published here.The post Dani Harmer says she ‘didn’t want to be Tracy Beaker anymore’ as she reprises role once more appeared on My Celebrity Life.