AN actress from Ledbury is appearing in a major role in a new series starting on BBC 2 next week.

Lucy Chalkley, aged 32, began her acting career by treading the boards with Ledbury Amateur Dramatic Society.

Now she’s one of the main players in Taking The Flak, a comedy-drama starring Martin Jarvis and Joanna Brookes, about a team of BBC journalists reporting from a strife-torn African nation.

Lucy plays Samantha Cunningham-Fleming, who runs a charity caring for boy soldiers embroiled in the war.

“Samantha has a heart of gold,” said Lucy. “She means well but she sometimes gets in everyone’s way.”

The production had a rather troubled history, since the pilot show was shot in Kenya as long ago as January 2007.

When the series got the green light, filming was due to resume in January 2008, until real political unrest erupted in Kenya, forcing the production to relocate.

“We couldn’t use the locations we wanted to, and it would have been inappropriate for a bunch of luvvies to go out there pretending to be war correspondents when there was real trouble happening,” said Lucy.

But new locations were found in Tanzania and the series was finished in the shadow of Kilimanjaro.

“Working on the show was really brilliant,” said Lucy.

“Because there was so much uncertainty, there’s a real sense of achievement that it’s now being broadcast.

“We all got to be really close friends.”

Lucy went to Ledbury Primary School and John Masefield before going to drama school. She has appeared in numerous stage shows and several TV productions.

The first episode of Taking The Flak is on Wednesday at 9pm.