Actress Frances Barber and Victoia Smurfit were fascinated by the world of the dominatrix featured in TV's latest Trial and Retribution two-parter. Steve Pratt reports.

IF you happened to have been in a Camden sex shop not long ago you might have encountered a familiar British actress looking over its wares. Frances Barber was shopping for a costume with the wardrobe designer of the latest Trial And Retribution story, Blue Eiderdown. She plays Cassandra, top dominatrix at the luxurious Plato private club which is being investigated in the police series.

The sex shop trip was part of the actress's preparation for the role. "The lovely thing about it was that nobody thought it was at all strange that two women should be shopping for these mad outfits," she says. "When we asked, 'Have you got a Nazi cap?', nobody batted an eyelid."

The two-part story of murder and vice is set in the shadowy, seductive world of the wealthy elite - "for whom money is no object and bizarre sex is an affordable luxury". The apparent suicide of a beautiful young prostitute leads to the reopening of the case of a 1970s TV star murdered more than a decade earlier.

Although Barber has never played a type of character like Cassandra before, she recently finished playing another dominatrix - although a very different character to Cassandra - in a film called Dead Fish. "So when I read Lynda La Plante's script, I thought, 'Oh yes, I can do this'. Two dominatrixes in a few months," she says.

"I'd never worked with Lynda La Plante before, but I'm genuinely a huge fan. I think she's fantastic and never miss anything by her. I leapt at the chance of working with her, especially as she writes such superb parts for women."

When DCI Roisin Connor (played by Victoria Smurfit) goes undercover in the club, she realises she's met her match in Cassandra - "this bizarrely dressed, scary character" as Barber describes her.

"Cassandra knows exactly what's going on, and she watches the other girls with a kind of wicked amusement. She's been there and done it, whatever it is. If Roisin is going to get any info out of that club, she'll need to get past Cassandra first."

Barber found the costume one of the most uncomfortable she's ever worn. "The costume was very painful despite the fact that it had been handmade for me and fitted perfectly," she says.

"The rubber really chafed, especially in the heat. At the end of a day's shooting, I was covered in these big welty marks. I said to Lynda, 'I hope you realise I'm only doing this because it's you. I wouldn't go through this for anyone else'.

"The real dominatrixes we spoke to said that they never really get used to it, but the pain is all part of the job. And they can wear those costumes for eight hours if they've got a busy day. I think it's part of the enjoyment for them. Personally, I don't get it. I understand wanting to look sexy and tight clothing is fine, but not pain. No thanks."

She did like one part of the outfit - the shoes. "They were out of this world, fantastic. They made me hugely tall and feel really powerful. And they were very Vivienne Westwood," she explains.

Trail And Retribution co-star Victoria Smurfit also found her costume, when she goes undercover in the club, provided her with some uncomfortable moments as she squeezed into a skintight dominatrix catsuit.

"It was indeed very tight and quite sweaty," she says. "But you know, it certainly gives you a sense of empowerment. The shoes in particular, because I was 6ft 2in in those which made me nearly as tall as Colin Salmon, the actor I'm supposed to be intimidating.

Barber herself admits to feeling intimidated on meeting the dominatrix who advised the production team. "She was scary, but actually couldn't have been nicer to me," says Barber.

"She really appreciated the fact that we wanted to get it right. I asked her advice all the time and I was so pleased that she approved of me, and I know for certain that she would definitely have told me if she hadn't.

"She's a fascinating woman. She knows that she's performing a service that really helps society. If women like her didn't exist, who knows what these men might do. And she makes a good living. She told me that she can make up to £1,000 a night."

Despite the painful costume, she thoroughly enjoyed the six-week shoot. "We had a lovely time. It's a really dark and sinister plot, but we actually had a lot of fun doing it," she says.

* Barber is back in uniform again at the moment, as Nurse Ratched in the London West End revival of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest opposite American actor Christian Slater and The Office star Mackenzie Crook.

Trial And Retribution is on ITV1 on Monday and Tuesday at 9pm.

Published: 07/10/2004