I CAN still remember getting the phonecall to say I'd got the part of Katie Drew in the Catherine Cookson mini- series Tilly Trotter.

I was standing in my parents' kitchen and it was, as I embarrassingly remember saying at the time, about the best thing that had ever happened to me.

This was it - my big chance - and I was determined that it would launch me on the glittering path to stardom.

I remember going for a costume fitting in Newcastle and my utter bemusement at being called an "artist".

Did they expect me to produce an easel and rustle up a watercolour? I wondered cynically.

The star treatment continued when I was whisked off to London to have hair extensions to complete my poor pit villager look.

Arriving on set for the first time was frankly terrifying. With no rehearsal, I was thrust into the lights in a room full of people and expected to deliver my lines. I did, but felt disconcertingly like an automaton.

Thankfully, things improved as the shoot progressed, and I found working with other, much more experienced actors from the North-East and elsewhere an education.

When required to film a poignant mine disaster scene, I even managed real tears (although self-pity at my nervousness may have helped).

While being in a Catherine Cookson drama hardly launched my acting career, it was an unforgettable experience, and one which it would be nice to think today's aspiring stars could share.

Published: 08/10/2004