A 1994 made for TV movie which featured comedian Mel Smith as Stephen Milner, a solicitor (for non-UK fans, this is a corporate lawyer) who is constantly under pressure from his ex-wife, his family, his colleagues and his clients. One of his biggest clients is a property developer whose flagship building has just been burnt down and there was some suggestion that the fire was deliberately started, for insurance claim purposes. Milner has to decide whether or not to believe his client who claimed that the fire was an accident.
Nicola has a small role in this movie. She played one of the reporters at the press conference called by the property developer after the fire. Although she had about 5 or 6 lines, the camera was not trained on her when she delivered 3 or 4 of those lines as it showed action elsewhere in the conference room. However, small though Nicola’s role was, her character was still given a full name in the credits, “Colette Brustein”. Usually for such a small role, even if the character were given lines, they might simply label her as “Reporter #1” or something similarly anonymous. Here’s what she looked like during the few seconds of screen time which she had. The man sitting behind her in this scene is James Fleet, who had a more substantial role.
Six degrees
John Hannah (right) is credited as appearing in this movie as the “Windscreen washer” and appeared briefly at the very beginning and at the very end of the movie. He did not have any scenes with Nicola in this movie. John Hannah also appeared in Four Weddings and a Funeral [Film] and Faith [TV]. In Four Weddings, although John was a member of the wedding party in the first wedding, he did not have any scenes with Nicola. In Faith, Nicola played one of his journalist colleagues but Nicola did not have too many lines in that movie.
Bill Moody is a cast member. He was also in A Dance to the Music of Time [TV] but he was in a different segment of that TV mini series.
James Fleet (left) is a cast member. His only scene with Nicola was at the press conference in this movie. He was also in Four Weddings and a Funeral [Film], Cows [TV], A Dance to the Music of Time [TV], Moll Flanders [TV] as well as Cloud Nine [Stage] with Nicola. Except for Cows, he did not share any screen time with Nicola. He did interact with Nicola in the stage play.
Catherine Tate (below) is a cast member. She played the personal assistant to the property developer and had a couple of lines but she did not have any scenes with Nicola. 
Nicola appeared in Season’s Greetings [Stage] with Catherine at the Lyttleton Theatre/National Theatre between December 2010 and March 2011.
Availability on DVD
This movie is not currently available on DVD.
Hi just saw this old program and wanted to find out a little more –
Just for your information a solicitor isn’t a corporate lawyer – a solicitor is a lawyer who works in every area of law. Traditionally solicitors instruct barristers to represent their clients in court although that has changed in many jurisdictions and solicitors can now represent their clients in courts. Barristers are generally used for more serious trial matters.
We have solicitors on our editorial team, so we know the difference between solicitors and barristers only too well. To explain this difference to US fans, we usually use the term “corporate lawyer” to distinguish between solicitors and barristers.
If Nicola made Milner, 4 Weddings and Faith all in 1994, its a little weird that she looked so different in each movie!