LYDIA IS BACK AND ALL SET TO WREAK HAVOC
Soap siren returns... ready to lure Lenny onto the rocks in River City
JACQUELINE Leonard looks to be one those actresses who breezes in and out of acting work, with less effort than it takes to buy a pair of shoes. Over the years she’s starred in all the major soaps except Emmerdale and in several major theatre productions.
And now the lady whose early years were spent in Stirlingshire is set to return to River City for a second stint, with her character Lydia about to wreak havoc.
But Jacqueline reveals she never set out to enter acting in the first place.
And when she did determine to make it her career, it demanded a massive effort.
“I was a 16 year-old at art college when I went down to visit a friend in London, who was studying drama.
“Acting was never in my life before that. I went to a little school in Bonnybridge, so drama didn’t exist.
“But I went to see a few shows my friend was in and that was it, I was hooked.”
Jacqueline says she was lured into acting after seeing a Chekhov play. Really?
Would the terminal tedium of the Russian’s writing not make you wish to do anything but?
“Well, it wasn’t just Chekhov’s The Three Sisters that pulled me in,” she says, grinning.
“I saw other plays as well. And so when I went home I booked myself into a drama lesson.”
The teenager paid for her own drama lessons.
“I worked in a restaurant at night washing dishes to pay for them. And three months later my drama teacher suggested I apply to drama college.
“I was still too young at the time but I applied anyway and got offered places in a few, including Rada and Lamda.”
The London Academy of Dramatic Arts held a place for her.
“So I did my A-levels in a year and managed to get a grant to go to drama college.”
Jacqueline’s parents were taken aback by their daughter’s decision.
“My mum and dad were normal working people. When I told my father I was going to drama college he said ‘What?’
“And then when I did go there and found I had to pretend to be a tree I thought ‘My father was right. I’m in completely the wrong place’.”
Yet, she came to realise playing at trees and other non-living creatures was just a part of acting training and loved it.”
Jacqueline, who lives in Lytham St Anne’s and is married with a teenage daughter, worked continuously on British television since the early nineties.
She was in Peak Practice for four series, played Lorraine Wicks in Eastenders for three years and went on to star in Doctors.
Along the way, Jacqueline also appeared in Holby City and the Bill before joining River City in 2007.
“One of the reasons I came out of River City was my daughter was nine or 10 and I felt I needed to be closer to her.
“I still worked, and did Coronation Street for a while. And some theatre which was great. There was a little bit of travelling but not too much.
“Now, my daughter is a teenager and