Caggie Dunlop was made in Fulham (actually)

Blue-eyed Caggie, who was educated at Wellington College and the Harrodian School in Barnes, is the daughter of a businessman father and a mother who works as a diversity and equality consultant. When her place was confirmed in the second series - which has an extended cast including Topshop magnate Sir Philip Green's daughter Chloe as Ollie Locke's girlfriend - her 90,000 Twitter fans were joyous that the "smiley girl with the bee-stung lips" was back.

"When I signed up I'd just returned from studying in New York and things weren't happening for me in London. It was lucky the show came looking for me. I had reservations because acting has always been my passion and I worried I'd be for ever typecast. But I think you regret the things you don't do, rather than the ones you do, so I gave it a shot.
The producers helped rope me in by telling me I could sing on the show. I'd told them it was something I'd done as a hobby but that I had been too shy to publicly perform. They called me a week before the first episode and told me I was going to sing live to an audience here at the Troubadour for the series debut. The response was so nice that I haven't looked back."

So surely the "who fancies whom" conversations in the series are scripted?

"There's no script whatsoever, but it's true that the producers tell you what they want from a scene. In terms of being genuine, it varies from person to person. How much of what we say is true? About 8.5 out of 10."

To search for their stars the producers talked to as many "ultra-connected" people as they could, and Caggie's name was repeatedly mentioned. While on an academic front she hasn't always been sure of her route - she abandoned a philosophy degree at Leeds University after a year to pursue acting at the fee-paying Lee Strasberg Institute in New York - her social life was always more definite.

It was when she decided to live with her "liberal" father in the wake of her parents' divorce that the then 15 year-old began to dive in to the capital's nightlife.

Is it hard for her to juggle being Caggie from Made in Chelsea and her off-air self?

"My lifestyle has changed a lot - there are a lot of people I now don't see. There are people who live more glamorous lives than the Made In Chelsea characters represent but they would never do a show like this - why would they need to?"

Appearances are deceiving, it's true. The silver Rolls-Royce that drives Caggie around in the first series is merely a prop. "Never in a 1,000 years would I be in a car like that. On filming days there's no waiting taxi. It's the Tube or nothing. I have a Vauxhall Corsa that needs to have its battery disconnected and reconnected every time it's driven."

There's certainly no fancy business on set either.

Bar someone who "de-shines" their skin, there are no dressing rooms, make-up artists or wardrobe assistants, meaning the cast look as naturally hungover, over self-tanned or as sartorially creative as they wish.

"When the show ends for good I think I'll take a break from Caggie, especially because people might find it strange to see me play another character. But after that I'll be going for acting auditions.

"I want to end up in LA. Everyone keeps saying that 22 is quite young but an actor's shelf-life is short. People stop me in the street and ask for photographs, which is wonderful, but I still don't feel I've achieved anything yet."

A slight untruth, perhaps. In the next few months Caggie will launch her debut T-shirt line called ISWAI (It Starts With an Idea) and is currently in talks with Aspinal of London, which wants her to design a handbag. "Can it be 'The Caggie'? I don't know, but I know Dunlop's out or else it would sound like they were selling tennis gear."

Then there are her Norah Jones-like dulcet tones, which not only won her great applause on the show, but are being recorded for an eventual album.

Before we part I ask Caggie, who tells me the introduction of new cast member, former flame and Spencer's "close friend" Oliver Proudlock, will be what makes next season a "meatier" offering, how she will be getting back to her Chelsea pad.

"Oh, I'm not going to Chelsea. I don't live there. I never have. You're more likely to find me around Fulham Broadway."

Made In Chelsea starts next Monday on E4.