Brook gets real in Series 7

Series 7: The Contenders is set in the world of a game show which pits six contestants against each other - and it's literally a fight to the death. I play Dawn, who is eight-months pregnant and the reigning champion.

I'd been attached to the project since the end of 1995. I was in New York in a play, way off-Broadway, playing a dominatrix beautician, and Dan Minahan came and saw the play. He was writing the script at the time, and he decided I was right for the part, but it took years before we got it off the ground. And since then, with all the reality shows now on television, it's like they scooped us.

We were making the film and our producer sent us a fax with a news clipping about a Scandinavian game show where they put everyone on an island, and we were like, "No way!" Dan gave me a bunch of tapes of these shows. I was really high-brow about it, saying, "I don't wanna watch these shows", but I had to admit when I was alone and watching them, they sucked me in.

When I met Dan, I thought it was important that I find out it was a satire, and I loved playing Dawn. She's a survivor, but she's got a great big heart and is no cold-blooded killer. I think for the satire to work in Series 7, you have to take it to the extreme. But I also don't think we're that far away. People get bored and you have to go further and further. It's like ancient Rome, right? It's like the gladiators. Hopefully it won't go that far, but it seems like every day there's some new show that wants to take it further.