Dawn Steele plays Justine McManus
No longer the new girl, Justine is more confident and self-assured of her abilities within the parapsychology department.
One year on, she's focused on the job in hand and enjoying a new respect from her fellow ghostbusters. And it looks like the former nurse's new-found mettle is also rubbing off on actress Dawn Steele.
"Before I joined Sea Of Souls if I heard a creak or a noise in the night I'd be terrified, but now I think, 'What's that?' and get up to go and find out.
"It's weird because I'm starting to act like Justine, as she constantly puts herself in these situations where you just think, 'No - don't go down the scary corridor on your own!'," laughs Dawn.
"But Justine just does it, she's quite brave and I think that has made me a bit braver in my own life. I was staying in quite a spooky old flat in Glasgow's West End when I was filming Sea Of Souls and I'm convinced there was something haunting the place.
"My light kept flickering one night and then it went off completely and I didn't bother changing it. Then five days later it just came on again in the middle of the night.
"Okay, it was probably just a faulty bulb, but because I was in Justine mode I started convincing myself there must be an otherworldly presence there or something. Talk about taking your work home with you..."
In the new series, Justine is forced to confront her own psychic abilities and comes to realise they are much more powerful than she could have ever imagined.
"Justine's psychic powers start to frighten her, because she can foresee some horrific things happening and it's down to her to make sure they don't become a reality," continues Dawn.
"At the same time she's determined to use her abilities for the greater good. However, her powers aren't there all the time. If it constantly happened then there wouldn't be much of a story, because she'd just solve it every week going, 'I knew that was going to happen.'
"So her psychic moments come from meeting people or touching something of theirs, but her powers can come and go at the strangest of times."
Whilst the realisation that she has no real control over these powers is disconcerting, through her strengthening relationship with Craig (Iain Robertson), Justine finds an unexpected source of support.
"She's never told anyone about her abilities before, but ends up confiding in Craig when she discovers she's seeing visions of him dying and she tries to warn him," reveals Dawn.
"That obviously brings her and Craig a lot closer and because Craig is quite sceptical, when he finds out about Justine it forces him to question his beliefs and he starts to believe more than he ever has before.
"Monaghan knows there's something going on, but Justine tries to kid him that her feelings are just intuition."
As Justine's visions become a more frequent occurrence, Dawn admits acting out those powerful scenes can be quite a challenge.
She says: "The special effects are added in later, so obviously you are acting to nothing. It's all quite bizarre because you end up having to act to a white cross on the wall. Or like the other week, where I had to be terrified of a bin, which was my eyeline for this wee boy who wasn't there.
"I just thought, 'Blimey, I don't know how they cope with this all the time on Star Wars.' Luckily I'm quite good at acting scared and crying a lot."
Dawn's reaction shots must have done the trick last series as her entire family found it extremely scary.
"Some of them found the show a bit too scary, especially my mum who was very scared, although she's still getting her head around the fact it's not Monarch Of The Glen.
"My brothers loved it too and they are really into Buffy and all those big American paranormal dramas, so I am really chuffed they think it's as good as big shows like that.
"I suppose the reason why it has been so popular is because there isn't much else like it on British TV," she continues.
Last year viewers saw a very different side to Dawn when she sang live to the nation in fund-raising reality show Comic Relief Does Fame Academy. But she insists it's not an experience she will be repeating in a hurry.
"The best thing about it was raising an unbelievable amount of money for Comic Relief. It was well over £1m and you think, ‘Wow, all that money just for standing up and singing a few songs?' It was fantastic that so many people watched it and gave so much," reflects the Glasgow-born actress.
"But saying that, it was also the most terrifying thing I have ever done in my whole life. The worst thing about it? Just doing it. I still can't believe I did it."
Despite receiving plaudits from the judges and viewers alike, Dawn reveals that she was reluctant to watch her Celebrity Fame Academy moment of glory – until recently.
"I saw it for the first time on video last week as I'd been too embarrassed to watch myself singing until now.
"When I agreed to do it I thought it was definitely going to be good fun, you know, lots of singing lessons and that it'd be a bit like being back at drama school.
"But oddly enough it wasn't, because it was just so utterly terrifying. I'm glad I did it as far as the charity is concerned, but otherwise, never again..."
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