Marie Melmotte Shirley Henderson Assets: this wild cat may be a tragic figure with the worst table manners in society London, but she is also the richest heiress in town. Prospects: marriage to Lady Carbury's dissolute son Sir Felix or Lord Nidderdale. There was a moment during the making of The Way We Live Now when director David Yates left the cameras rolling at the end of a scene involving Shirley Henderson as Marie Melmotte in her father's study. David likes to give his actors the chance to improvise. "Melmotte has this enormous desk in a room where Marie is never allowed to go," says Henderson, seen most recently as Jude in Bridget Jones' Diary. "It's a short scene where I have to go in and steal a cheque. But David kept the camera running to see what I would do after taking the cheque. "I ended up imitating Melmotte, with my feet up on his desk and smoking his cigars, all the things a young child might do in a room she's not supposed to enter." That piece of improvisation made it into the film and reveals the child in Marie's character, a girl dragged around the capitals of Europe without knowing what Melmotte had done to, or with, her mother. "Poor Marie, she's out of her depth," says Henderson. "Her father wants her to enter society, but that's not her background. She thinks Sir Felix truly loves her, and if she wants something, she just goes for it. And that's not done in English society. In the end, she's in danger of ending up exactly like her father." Henderson really enjoyed the production. "Working with this cast and someone like David Yates was wonderful. Being allowed to improvise is a wonderful thing for an actor, too. "David Suchet improvises all the time and that's what I like doing. So we would argue, push each other about and keep our characters going all day, off camera or on. It's great fun to do and that's how we worked." Henderson was at work with Goran Visnjic (Luca Kovac in ER) on a new BBC film, Doctor Sleep, during the 17-week shoot on The Way We Live Now. Miranda Otto (Mrs. Hurtle) is also in both productions. "It is hard to do two roles at once. You've just got to take it one day at a time. There were times at rehearsal when I got my accents mixed up. Marie has a French/English accent, and as the detective in Doctor Sleep, I'm London." Henderson was born in the Scottish highlands at Forres but was brought up in Dunfermline. She started acting at school and singing in clubs before going on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her film credits include Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland (Debbie) and Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy (Leonara). Shirley was also in BBC Two's In a Land of Plenty (Anna Marie). Theatre work includes Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Citizen's Theatre), the title role in Eurydice (Chichester Festival), and Perdita in The Winter's Tale and Miranda in The Tempest (both for the National Theatre).