Gramma’s House
Nicola appeared in the pilot episode of Gramma’s House but did not stay with the show due to scheduling conflicts.
Clare in the Community
Grandma’s House was not the only pilot for a TV show in which Nicola was involved but did not continue with when the show was later commissioned. There has been at least one other occasion when Nicola was involved in the pilot episode but dropped out for various reasons.
Clare in the Community started off life as a comic strip, drawn by Harry Venning for Care Weekly, a magazine for social workers and later transferred to the Guardian newspaper. Clare is a social worker who is so busy organizing the life of others that her own is often in shambles. Apparently, Nicola was cast as the first “Clare” in June 1998 when the show was still in the development stage and it was hoped that it would be commissioned as a TV sitcom.
Harry Venning said,
Our second script for the BBC was considered promising enough to be cast and produced as a performed reading. Our first Clare was actor Nicola Walker (Spooks, Dalziel and Pascoe), who combined deadpan and sexy to devastating effect.
Even though that episode tested well before a small, select audience, the powers that be (first the BBC, then iTV) rejected it and asked for more rewrites. The show languished in development hell until many years later, when it was finally produced for the radio and has now become a highly successful radio programme. By now, Nicola was no longer associated with the project.
You can read more about this show in these articles :
What a shame! Let’s hope that Nicola will be able to find a similar project now that Spooks is coming to an end. We have absolutely no doubt that she is able to “combine deadpan and sexy to devastating effect” and would love to be able to watch this on screen!
Modern Men
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