Dani Harmer: 'Hopefully I'll play Tracy Beaker in my 80s – who wouldn't want Grandma Tracy?'

Many, many DVDs! I know they’re dying out, but I’m pretty old-school. I’m still partial to an actual box set, even if my kids [the 35-year-old actor has two young children with her partner] have no idea what they are. And, this is going to sound absolutely dreadful, my BAFTA. It’s winking at me.

If your kids are bemused by the DVDs, what do they think of the BAFTA?

They couldn’t care less. Even if I explained to them what it was and why I have it [Tracy Beaker Returns won a Children’s BAFTA for best drama in 2010], they wouldn’t care. One of them is two – if it isn’t Thomas the Tank Engine, he’s not bothered about it.

Who controls the remote at home?

Absolutely my children. And by the time they go to bed, we’re too knackered to watch anything. We might get the remote back one day. Maybe when they’re 18!

What's your preferred viewing?

I’m a reality TV girl. I know I should be saying “keep drama alive!” – and I do love a good British drama – but I can’t help it. I love a bit of trash. The Real Housewives, Love Island, Married at First Sight – I watch them all.

What is it you like so much about it?

The escapism and the ridiculousness. I love watching the lavish lifestyles of the Real Housewives with all their money and their mansions. No one really lives like that. All they do is go out for lunch all the bloody time. Why are they constantly at lunch drinking prosecco? How have their houses got 17 bedrooms?

You're back as Tracy Beaker in the latest season of the children's drama The Dumping Ground, and also directing for the first time. Is that where your ambitions lie?

I’ve always wanted to direct, so it was a real pinch-me moment. I was working with such a supportive crew, a lot of whom I had grown up with, so that felt really nice. It felt like coming home. There were people who had been trainees when I was there who are now heads of department.

You're the centre of the Tracy Beaker Universe. Is that a gift or a burden?

Oh, it’s a gift for sure! And it’s a badge I wear with pride. It’s one of the reasons I’ll always go back if I’m asked. When I go back and look around, I do think, “Gosh, this all started when I was 12.” If someone had told me then about the legacy that the show would have, I wouldn’t have believed them.

You seem to have managed the transition from child star into adulthood with little difficulty. How did you do that?

I’m incredibly boring! I never really did the whole drugs-and-alcohol thing. I don’t really drink or do anything newsworthy.

I totally get why people spiral out of control because being a child actor is really, really hard. You’re in the limelight and people will give you anything you want and then suddenly, if you stop working, it’s all gone. That can really mess with your head, especially if you don’t have the right support system around you.

Thankfully, I’ve always had incredible family and friends to keep me grounded and I’ve always worked, thanks to Tracy Beaker. Hopefully I’ll be able to play her when I’m in my 80s. Who doesn’t want to see Grandma Tracy Beaker?

Do you feel that you missed out on a "normal" childhood?

From the age of 12, I was carrying a whole show – in that first series, I was pretty much in every single scene – so I had a very different childhood from most people. Whereas most people were going to school, doing their GCSEs and going to their prom, I was on Blue Peter and met the Queen. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

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The Dumping Ground season 13 airs from Friday 17th January on CBBC and BBC iPlayer.

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