At around 4.25pm on Thursday 8 January 2002, a new children’s series began on BBC One with a tousled ball of determined energy flouncing back through the doors of Stowey House children’s home.
Announcing to all who cared to listen that the latest attempt to find her a foster family had stalled on the runway, The Story of Tracy Beaker had begun.
For actress Dani Harmer, playing Tracy was a few chapters into her own story. Then aged 12, by the time she took on the title character of Jacqueline Wilson’s hugely successful series of novels, she had six years of industry experience behind her. It’s a level of success few people achieve so young and now Dani has children of her own, how does that experience inform her parenting style?
Tiny Happy People caught up with Dani, mum to baby Rowan and six-year-old Avarie-Belle, to find out her memories and more.
A job first, fun second
“When I was six,” Dani begins, “Obviously I had no idea what was going on. I just had the best time ever.”
That “best time ever” was a stint in the West End musical Tommy, created by rock band The Who, a job her dad was incredibly excited about due to his love for the group. “When you’re that young,” she remembers, “it’s just fun, as it should be. It definitely doesn’t feel like work.”
Smaller TV roles began rolling in for Dani a couple of years before Tracy changed her life. She admits to feeling the responsibility of carrying an entire series on her pre-teen shoulders (“If I was rubbish, the series might be rubbish”) and that, now, she was a child working in an adult world, shifting her mindset to all that entailed: “I have to act like an adult,” she remembers. “Because it is a job first and foremost and it’s fun second.”
No-one better than your mum
Strict rules apply when young people are working on a production. As well as a close eye kept on working hours, child actors are looked after by chaperones. In Dani’s case, her mum Jill - who had no prior experience in TV - trained to become a licensed chaperone. “She knew about all the rules and the regulations, so there is no-one better than your mum making sure your best interests are at heart,” she says. “That you’re not being taken advantage of, making sure that you’re finishing on time, that you’re not too tired. I was really lucky in the fact that my mum was able to offer that.”
Jill, alongside Dani’s dad Andy, also made sure their daughter had a life beyond the set. Perhaps more importantly, a healthy life outside the acting bubble.
Dani, who admits to being ‘laser-focused’ on her acting as a teenager, explains: “I did regular things at weekends like bowling, to make sure I stayed grounded!
“Because it can be completely bizarre. I mean, I was working and then, after school, being brought to the Blue Peter studio and just doing utterly random stuff that no-one had ever dreamed of, like meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace for her birthday.
Dani’s parents were keen to keep her grounded throughout this time and not develop an ego. “They were always quick to bring me back down to earth - which I definitely needed from time to time!”
"It's fine if my children want to do something else"
Dani has continued to play Tracy into adult life, alongside a successful run in the 2012 series of Strictly Come Dancing and setting up her own performing arts school. Her most famous character has mirrored reality in recent years by becoming a parent too; My Mum Tracy Beaker began on CBBC in 2021.
With Rowan less than 12 months old, we’re some way off knowing if he wants to follow mum into the acting world. Avarie-Belle has shown signs, however - especially when it comes to mum’s acting school.
Dani says: “She decided when she was four years old that she would be joining in, even though she was far too young, So I said, ‘yeah, go on, go for it’ but we soon realised that it just wasn’t for her, and that’s absolutely fine.
“She enjoys coming along but I think she wanted to teach the class rather than join in. She had no interest in being on that stage whatsoever.”
Dani continues: “One day, she may turn round and say she wants to go back into acting and I will support her 100 per cent, but also, if she wants to get a job that’s a bit more financially stable and put me in a nice care home when I’m older, that’s also fine!”
The importance of 'being a kid'
Now in her early 30s, Dani has the interesting perspective of her eldest child hitting the same age she was when making her West End debut. How does her daughter’s life at six differ from her own?
“I kind of realised how important it is to enjoy being a kid!” she laughed. “As much as I wouldn’t change my childhood for anything, I did miss out on things like going to friends’ birthdays, going to sleepovers. Prom - I never did that. I missed out on quite big milestone moments, so I’m very aware of that with my daughter, and I will do with my son when he gets a bit older.
“Every parent always says to you, ‘blink and you literally miss it and suddenly they’re teenagers,’ and it’s so true. Literally, these six years with my eldest have just flown by and I wish I could go back and relive all of those cute little moments before she could talk and walk properly.
“Now, I am really conscious of letting her be six, letting her be silly, talking about bums because she finds it hilarious, just stuff like that - because it is such a magical, exciting time before you reach being an adult - which sucks!”
The power of a supportive parent
Dani admits that her parents’ support was a key part in her early success, with regular checks on her welfare before she took on any challenging work. “I was so determined, there was no stopping me,” she says.
“Literally, if they had said, ‘we don’t want you to do this,’ I’m pretty sure I would have run away and found a way myself to do it. The fact that they were so supportive was brilliant.
“I watch myself back, I can’t believe how young I am, learning all that dialogue and having the confidence to shout all that dialogue into all these other actors’ faces and it just not faze you at all. I think it was completely down to my parents.”
Acting is one thing, but children can become passionate about all sorts of careers from a young age. What advice would Dani give to parents whose kids are showing a keen interest in medicine, art, mathematics or science, for example - long before they need to study it at exam level?
“I would say support them,” says Dani. “I would hate for someone to have pooh-poohed my dreams, so I certainly wouldn’t be doing that to my children.
“It can be hard but I guess it’s just trying to prepare them as best you can. I would always be as supportive as possible. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it and I think that’s a really important thing to learn.
“You can succeed and you can live your dreams but it takes really hard work, so just support and encourage them!”
How do children learn about time?
How can you help children understand about time and ideas related to time like 'before', 'after', 'day' and 'night'?
