A FORMER Darlington schoolgirl was the envy of millions of women last night who tuned in to watch the fourth episode of ITV drama series Close and True.

Proud Polam Hall old girl Kerry Rolfe, who plays single mother Paula Farrent in the series, had her first ever screen kiss with Geordie heart-throb Robson Green, who plays Newcastle solicitor John Close.

It was a moment the 31-year-old actress says she will never forget.

"It was my first screen kiss and Robson was the first man I had kissed since marrying my husband John last year," she told the D&S Times.

"It was a bit tense and as we were just about to do it, I put my hand up in the air and confessed to him and the crew that I was a virgin at this sort of thing. Everyone laughed and after that it all went very well."

But life hasn't always been plain sailing for the little girl who seemed destined to be an actress.

Born Kelly Farley in Greenbank hospital in 1969, she lived at Harrowgate Hill for a while before moving to School Aycliffe, near Heighington, when she was aged seven.

It was at the local junior school when life began to get tough.

"I was a bit of a swot at school and always spoke my mind, which did not always make me popular," she said. "Although I had lots of friends, a particular gang of children made life very difficult and bullied me all the time. I stuck it out for as long as I could and eventually mum pulled me out and sent me to Polam Hall."

She joined the school as a senior but life was not plain sailing.

"I had always had to work hard at school. But I went into an environment where a lot of children had come up from Polam juniors and were already up and running with many of the subjects entirely new to me.

"I had to put in a big effort to catch up."

But it was the school's arts facilities which were to play the most important part in her life.

"Just before I took my O-levels I was in a school production of The Boyfriend. I absolutely loved it and from then on I knew what I wanted to do with my life."

She won a place at the Welsh college of music and drama, but her affection for Polam Hall remains.

To this day she recalls Polam with pride every time she gets out her old school straw boater.

At her wedding in Heighington last May, 60 members of the school choir performed the school anthem, Worship, as she walked down the aisle. It was a moving moment, with many tears shed.

Despite marrying a Southerner and living in London, her heart remains in the North-East.

She comes home as often as she can to visit her mother, Iris, who lives in Heighington, and her brother Adrian, a former Yarm schoolboy who is on the final leg of training in Newcastle to be a doctor.

She believes it was her northern roots which helped her secure two TV drama parts, as Molly Burrows in Catherine Cookson's The Man Who Cried and a guest appearance in BBC-1's Harry.

But she hopes her talents will lead her further than the small screen.

For two years she lived in New York with her then husband-to-be Mr John Rolfe, a City banker who had accepted an inter-company transfer before he met her.

Unable to work as an actress because of regulations, she performed as a singer in cabaret.

Now they are both back in England, she is carrying on her singing training, with her sights set on bagging a part in a musical.

"I would just love to be in a West End show," she said. "I love singing and acting and to be able to do both would be a dream come true."

She also has a passion for Shakespeare which she shares with her mother, a retired teacher who taught English at Central and Haughton schools.

The last six months have brought her back to the region filming six episodes of the new ITV legal drama series Close and True, set in Newcastle.

But what was it like working with Green, the Geordie star whose twinkling blue eyes and dreamy smile make him obe of TV's highest-paid stars.

"It was such great fun and I learned tons from him," she said. "Robson should be in comedy, he is so hilarious.

"Every time filming stopped he would crack a funny and everybody would be doubled up laughing.

"The trouble is he is such a professional that he can switch straight back into the role while we were all left struggling to keep a straight face.