Francesca

Francesca turns up on the fringes of the entertainment world Extras loves to pick apart, an actor whose presence immediately exposes the awkwardness of everyone around her. She is direct, unbothered by the fumbling politeness of others, and simply wants to be treated like any other jobbing performer trying to get a line.

The show built its comedy on the gap between people's good intentions and their actual behaviour, and Francesca Martinez plays that gap without ever becoming its punchline. Her matter-of-fact delivery turns other characters' cringing sympathy back on them, making the joke about their discomfort, not her condition.