Tidehas turnedon RiverCity butshow stillfloats myboat
STAR RETURNS TO SHIELDINCH AFTER 5 YEARS
interiors are shot. My home, the Murdochs, is no longer there. Someone else lives there, so I am kind of wandering around the studio going, ‘Where am I?’. “I have been doing that for the last eight weeks. Hopefully, it will all start to make sense.” Making sense of her own life was the reason Jacqueline left River City in the first place. Travelling from her home in Lytham St Anne’s, near Blackpool, was taking her away from her husband Alex and daughter Aleisha. And after three years, it was beginning to take its toll. Jacqueline had a one-year contract extension on the table at the time but decided, with a heavy heart, to leave.
She said: “I loved being in River City. But my daughter was nine or 10 and I needed to be at home a bit more.
“My daughter is now a teenager who gets on with her life. When I got a call asking if I would be interested in coming back, she was like, ‘Mum, go back’ because she knew how much I loved working on the show.
“It was a no-brainer, really. I said yes, no hesitation.”
The chance to work in Scotland is something Jacqueline always relishes. Her late mother Agnes was from Stirling and Jacqueline spent part of her childhood in Bonnybridge, near Falkirk. Her one regret is her mum never got to see her in River City.
She said: “I love Scotland and it is always lovely for me going back. It brings back lots of lovely memories.
“My mum never knew I was on River City, unfortunately. She always used to say to me, ‘Why can’t you get a show up here’ and then she goes and I get River City.”
If she is grateful for the chance to return to River City – and work with arguably one of the show’s best ever casts which includes actors of the calibre of Dawn Steele, Alex Ferns and Iain Robertson – Jacqueline wasn’t exactly waiting by the phone, hoping it would ring.
She was busy before River City, probably best-known for her role in EastEnders as Queen Vic barmaid Lorraine Wicks who enjoyed a fling with hardman Grant Mitchell.
After River City, she appeared in shows including Holby City, Casualty and Waterloo Road and she played Linda Hancock in Coronation Street.
Jacqueline said: “I have been really lucky and I have had some lovely jobs but I think every actor worries where the next job is coming from.”
Lydia left Shieldinch in fear of her life, having unsuccessfully tried to frame her spouse for the death of his son Ewan, who accidentally fell to his death from scaffolding.
No one knows how Lenny will react when he finds out she is back but if the villain of the piece has a weakness, it is Lydia.
Jacqueline is well-versed in the world of soap, however, to expect a happy ending.
She said: “She has quite a slow burn. There is going to be a build-up and she will cause mayhem and will ruffle a few feathers.
“Will she and Lenny get back together? I truly don’t know but she was always Lenny’s Achilles’ heel. She knows he still cares for her.
“They have that love-hate relationship where they really despise each other at times, but underneath that they still care for each other.
“I think that will have an impact on the storyline as it goes along.” ● River City is on BBC1 on Tuesday at 8pm.
be a build-up and Lydia will cause mayhem and ruffle a few feathers