ACTRESS ON TURNING BACK THE
She is starring on stage in Jackie the Musical and has just returned to a role she last played in EastEnders 18 years ago.
Jackie, in particular, has conjured up memories for the actress, who has also starred in Broadchurch, Doctors, Fat Friends, Band of Gold and 80s sitcom The Two of Us.
Janet has been reading old annuals of the once top- sel l ing, now defunct magazine for teenage girls which enjoyed its heyday in the 70s.
She also had a picture of herself as a teenager pinned to her script during rehearsals.
She said: “I got a couple of annuals and revisited them and it’s interesting because they are not that far removed.
“Teenageg girlsg are still talkingg about the same thingshings – does he like me, doesn’t he like me, how do I get noticed? Now we would plug into laptops to do it.
“I’ve had a photograph of me at 15 on my script for the whole of the rehearsals and I look at it and think, it was all OK.
“I wish I had known it was all going to be OK. I was so worried as a teenager. I wish I hadn’t bothered to worry but, of course, it is teenage angst.”
With music by stars including Donny Osmond, David Essex and Marc Bolan in the show, it brings back plenty of memories for Janet, now 57.
She said: “When I hear it, I am there, back in my youth club days. You think that was me at 16, it was fantast ic, thi s i s me at 50-whatever, it’s fantastic too.”
The show is set in the present day where Jackie, played by Janet, is a 5 0 - s ome t h i n g woman at a crossroads in her life.
She comes