Sold
Thursday 13 December 2007 9:00pm – 10:00pm on ITV1.
Ella Smith, who plays Phoebe in Sold, has no problem with estate agents – she even invited one to her house warming party.
“I’ve always got on well with estate agents and the one who found my rented property was great, really good fun and didn’t try to rip us off so we invited him to our house warming.”
Ella thinks her character Phoebe is the life and soul of Colubrine’s estate agents in Sold.
She says: “Phoebe puts a positive spin on everything, which is really fun to play. She has moments when things go wrong but she turns them round quickly. She can also turn on the estate agent jargon and be as ruthless as the next man but hopefully she’s loveable too.
“Phoebe is very racy at times, she flirts constantly but I like the fact that she’s willing to jump straight in. She gets screwed over, quite literally, by another estate agents but it doesn’t destroy her trust in people or love. I had to shoot the sexy scenes quite early on but, to be honest, they were quite tame as far as sex scenes go. I’ve done a lot worse.
“I keep playing minxes, it’s great! I didn’t think I’d be playing those sort of parts when I left drama school. I think when the part was originally written Phoebe wasn’t so confident or happy but after I auditioned they saw possibilities in me and decided not to make her a victim. It’s been great for me to champion that sort of girl. Everyone knows a Phoebe.”
Ella continues: “Everyone at Colubrine’s is affected by the office politics and hierarchy. They all need someone above and below them. Phoebe has Jonty to boss around. But she does care about him and sees the good qualities in him. It’s a kind of mothering relationship but they work well as a pairing because she looks out for him, yet also gives him a hard time. Her feelings towards him are ambiguous, which I like.”
In episode five of Sold the gang are up against the clock with just one week to find keyworker buyers for a new-build project. Danny is preoccupied with helping Terry, a recently divorced dad, reconnect with his son and finding a new home for an out of work computer programmer who has lost all sense of direction. Tension between Danny and Matt mounts, culminating in a clash which puts everyone’s job on the line.
The Colubrine’s team have secured a lucrative contract to handle sales for the Bay Tree Court Development. With just two more remaining flats on the site to be sold, Matt (Kris Marshall) is in a triumphant mood, boasting to Mel (Christina Cole) that he’s destined for great things, but she’s distracted by Danny (Bryan Dick). Disturbed by their flirtatious banter, Matt charges them with the sale of the last two flats.
The next day, Mel’s promising viewing at Bay Tree Court is interrupted when she discovers Jonty (Dan Johnston) squatting in the show flat. He reveals that his house has been repossessed and, ashamed at being a homeless estate agent, has been camping at Bay Tree Court. When Phoebe (Ella Smith) hears of his plight, she offers to let him stay with her, a proposition that Jonty misreads as a sign of growing affection. Whereas Phoebe sees an opportunity for a free live-in housekeeper, Jonty thinks she has designs on his body. How far will he go to keep a roof over his head?
Mr Colubrine (Anthony Head) then drops a bombshell – the Bay Tree Court deal demanded a fifth of the flats be sold to keyworkers, something Matt had failed to realise. The gang find themselves up against the clock with just one week to find the necessary new buyers for Bay Tree Court or risk losing Colubrine’s valuable contract and wrecking their relationship with the influential developer, Lord Derek (Adrian McLoughlin). Everyone is now focused on finding nurses and firefighters to buy these flats. All except Danny, who refuses to help Matt.
Danny is having a difficult time of his own as he tries to persuade Terry (Ian Puleston-Davies), a recently divorced policeman, to sell his marital home and split the profit with his ex-wife. Danny sees an opportunity not only to help him move on, but also to reconnect with his troubled teenage son, Roger (Benjamin Smith). Reluctant to give in to his wife’s wish to sell the family home, Terry resents Danny’s interference. Elsewhere, an exasperated Danny struggles to keep up with Harry (Bruce MacKinnon), a former computer geek who has lost his sense of direction in life. His everchanging creative ambitions are at odds with his straight-laced personality and the properties that Danny shows him.
Time is rapidly running out and with the team having failed to sell any flats to keyworkers, panic sets in. The tension between Danny and Matt mounts, culminating in a clash between the pair with dire consequences. Matt’s plan to have Danny sacked backfires when an angry Mr Colubrine lays all their jobs on the line. Unless they make the keyworker sales immediately Mr Colubrine will sack them all. Forced to get on board with the Bay Tree Court crisis, Danny leads the team in a fresh approach to selling the flats – an unusually honest and upfront approach which sees the team succeed at the eleventh hour.
Saved by Danny’s last minute intervention, Matt is rewarded by Mr Colubrine at the Colubrine’s Big Night Out. But it is a hollow victory for Matt as he realises that things are hotting up between Mel and Danny.
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