MAXINE Peake isn’t one for an easy life.
She quit the role of Veronica in Shameless, for example, when others may have stayed.
“I never get too comfortable,” she told me when we met up recently.
This in an industry where competition for parts is terrifyingly fierce, even for someone like Maxine.
“I thought it would get easier as I got older. But it’s about doing the right thing. I’ve got to have a good reason to want to do a part.”
The Bolton-born actress is next on screen this Friday in Bike Squad, an ITV1 comedy drama about a group of cycle cops.

There’s a feature in today’s MEN – the online version is here.
I also asked Maxine about working with Anthony Wilson on one of his last films before he died.
They appeared in a short film commissioned by the North West Regional Development Agency to highlight the region’s creative and cultural talent.
“We did this little scene where I walked over the bridge at Castlefield and he was stood on the bridge,” she explained.
“I was frightened of meeting him because he’s quite an imposing figure and quite intimidating.
“But I felt quite privileged, because a couple of weeks later he died.
“We had a nice day. I just felt quite privileged to spend that bit of time with him.”
It also brought back memories for Maxine of Channel 4 game show Remote Control, hosted by Anthony in the early 1990s.
“I met him years and years ago. When I was about 16 I was a contestant on Remote Control. I was chatting to him all about that.
“I was at Salford College and they came along and went, ‘Anybody want to go on a quiz show?’
“I got swung around. I won a Mork and Mindy Annual and a pine chair with Remote Control sprayed on in blue, which I’ve still got at my grandad’s.
“I’m very proud of that.”
Remote Control
It’s A Fair Cop For Maxine