How did the role of Saffron first come about for you? Was it just a typical audition?
I have a wonderful agent, Melissa Rose, and she asked me if I wanted to audition for Neighbours as they had requested me. The audition was a lot of fun because instead of using a script as one would expect, we improvised and I could basically do what I wanted to do as the character. So no it was not a typical audition, and thankfully the producers liked what I did, and I became Saffron Jankievicz.

How would you describe the character of Saffron Jankievizc?
I describe Saffron as someone who will stop at nothing to succeed. She came from a working class family and has strong work ethics. She definitely worked hard to make a name for herself in the fashion industry and had to make lots of sacrifices to attain that success. She is not the most easy going person unfortunately, probably due to the fact that she never sleeps and lives on coffee and pretzels and needs to EAT. Who wouldn't be cranky lol? Thankfully I didn't have to eat pretzels. They are not my favourite thing to munch on.

What do you remember about your first day on set?
My first day on set was wonderful. I remember the cold air at 5:30 am on that July morning and arriving with sinus problems due to a very bad flu I was trying to get over. I remember my ears totally blocking up and I couldn't hear Margot saying her lines so had to lip read what she was saying. That was rather frightening. All I could hear was my own voice lol. I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't even remember what I was wearing that day til I saw it on the telly. The next day when I came to work I made sure I had some sinus medication so that wouldn't happen to me again. I took lots of photos too. I like to look back on my experiences through photography. There are some wonderful candid shots of the cast and crew. I really did have a great time working on the show. It was a great learning experience for me and there were lots of laughs.

Were there any actors you particularly enjoyed working with?
I enjoyed working with Margot. She was great, and so was Sam actually, but of course I worked mainly with Margot, who we nicknamed Maggot lol. I was poopy, because I stood in a big pile of dog poo one day while walking to the set from Makeup. I didn't realise til everyone started to notice how bad Saffron smelt lol. I appreciated that they took to my character so well. Apparently I stunk! lol

Saffron is a very distinctive character, in both appearance and the way she talks – did you base your portrayal on anyone you know?
I do play Saffron very "out there" and we had a bit of a laugh at some of the expressions Saffron pulls and they way that she says what she says. I based her character partly on people I knew when I was modelling from the age of 12, and also a couple of my school teachers and one particular nun (all female) that I must say frightened the life out of me when I was a young girl. Actually they all did. So I guess I made Saffron very scary at times because I felt that in order for the younger viewers watching, she really did have to be scary and mean and abrupt etc to get Donna to snap to it the way she did. And it is always good to see nasty people like that get theirs in the end. The accent was really based on my perceptions as a young model of how fashion designers and organisers spoke. Always "Darling this" and "Darling that." So I have a bit of a laugh at myself bunging that on too.