As Brookside's Beth, Anna Friel helped murder her dad, found her man was a rapist and sought solace in lesbian love.
BY LUCIA GREEN - PICTURES BY PAUL MASSEY
The moment that Brookside fans everywhere have been waiting for is nearly here. Next month, Britain's most famous patio gives up its grisly secret - the body of Trevor Jordache. This means more emotionally-charged scenes for Anna Friel. Eighteen year old Anna can hardly wait for the slabs to come up and reveal the black plastic bin-liner. "It'll be great to get my teeth into another meaty story line", she says laughing.
During her two years in the soap she helped murder the father who had sexually abused her, buried the body in the back garden, had sex with a "date rapist" and enjoyed two lesbian affairs. And if one hot story line wasn't enough, Beth is now embarking on a third relationship with a female student, entailing more passionate on-screen kisses. She says "I've been here two years, but I feel I've aged 10 years". She arrives for our photo-shoot wearing a plain cream shirt and old torn jeans, and even without a scrap of make-up she looks pretty.
The intensity of her acting has brought her to the notice of Hollywood directors. She is suddenly flavour of the month. In the biz they are calling her "the babe with talent". If there had been soap awards, Anna Friel would have walked off with a BAFTA by now.
She may ooze self-confidence and determination and speak with machine-gun rapidity, but she is down to earth and not one jot precious.
"I've always realised this is the most fickle business to get into. Tomorrow I could be just a paragraph in the papers, a has-been, though I shall do my damnedest not to be", she says.
She is bracing herself for the body story line. "Everyone has been waiting for it. I think the time is right. Also, I don't want to stay in Brookside for ever. I came in with a bang and I want to go out with a bang. They want it to topple all previous biggies".
She cant say when she will be leaving. She stresses how much she owes to Brookie - it has, after all, catapulted her to stardom - but you get the feeling she's a tiny bit frustrated. She talks about missing amazing opportunities. When top American casting directors have flown into London, wanting to meet up-and-coming young British actresses, she has had to turn them down because she's far too busy working on Brookside.
But she's determined to make the forthcoming traumatic scenes her best ever. "Everyone's expectations of me are so high, I want to prove I haven't lost it and that I can still bring out all that emotion and passion".
At least this time she wont be doubled up with stomach pains. During those early emotional scenes - putting Trevor under the patio and everything that followed - she vividly remembers her stomach being in knots and going home so exhausted and tearful in the evening, and wondered if it was all worth it. Now she has conquered all that.
"I've learned to relax, because at the end of the day your health is the most important thing. I've learnt to shut myself off and take a deep breath and be completely in control."
Now she can switch Beth off as she leaves the building. She talks any problems over with Des, her dad. After a spell of flat sharing she is now back at the family home in Rochdale. Anna's parents are both teachers - mum Sheila is a special needs teacher and Des teaches French.'My dad believes in me so much and I have long talks with him. Mum supports me as well but she is very practical and is the one to say, 'Anna, are you prepared if this doesn't work out?' You need someone to say that".
Also at home is her 15-year-old brother Michael, who's also in the biz. Last year he starred in the BBC Screen Two film In The Cold Light Of Day. She admits that they are a tightly-knit family. "My stable background has kept my feet on the ground. People always ask how I can play someone with such a traumatic life when my own is so normal. I simply use a lot of imagination"
When she was offered the part of Beth after being spotted as Michael Palin's daughter in GBH, she was still hoping to make her career as a barrister. She laughs, thinking of the upcoming story line "It looks as though I shall make the crown court after all".'
She religiously answers every fan letter, and when all she wants is a quiet drink in a pub with a friend and someone comes over to say "Hi Beth", she always smiles "I never forget that if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be where I am. I might be the first famous person they have plucked up courage to speak to."
She has tried hard and managed to hang on to her old friends, many of whom have gone to university. She is also thrilled that she has managed to retain her friendship with Claire, her oldest school friend. "We met when we were six and I remember we went to her house and ate smoked mackerel and watched TV. She's at uni now, but we talk on the phone a lot still."
She shares certain similarities with her character Beth. "I can be compassionate, but I am a very strong person, I won't let people walk all over me. But like Beth, underneath there's quite a scared young girl who has a lot of things on her mind and on her shoulders. Beth has grown up a lot over the last two years and so have I.
I am an 18 year old girl who has an awful lot to deal with - a brilliant, but stressful job, having to cope with the possibility of not working once I've left, dealing with producers, speaking up for yourself. As Beth I've learnt to be strong."
Suddenly it's all happening. She was snapped up by London agent Jeremy Conway who manages Anthony Hopkins and the offers are corning in - theatre, a film and a three part TV drama . She has also had lots of TV presenting jobs put her way but has turned them down.
"It would be easy to do and would make me a lot of money, but it isn't the path I want to take. I want to be taken seriously as an actress. It's not enough for me to be successful, I want to be respected. I want to be really good."
There is also another excitement in her life -a new man. He is Darren Day, the 26-year old blond actor who played the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat in the West End and then on tour. He has also been touring recently as Pip in Great Expectations. They first met last year at a Joseph first-night party in Manchester.
"It was the old thing of eyes meeting across a crowded room. Neither of us knew who the other was. He didn't know Beth in Brookside from Adam. We liked each other for what we were. He has big brown eyes and he's lovely. He makes me laugh a lot. We just gelled. We are completely at ease with each other. He has been at my house lots of times now and gets on amazingly well with my parents.
"We haven't any expectations, we are enjoying each other's company and seeing how it goes. I used to analyse everything, pick it apart and worry. Now I say this is it, take it how it is. If you end up getting hurt, you get hurt. Just take life for how it is."
She relaxes by going to the cinema -"I'm a real film buff, I see every film that's out. I love it especially if Darren is with me ; we have discussions about them afterwards. I'm also learning, because that's where I want to be one day, on the big screen. I am very determined. I'm a lot more ambitious than Beth .If I set out to do something I usually achieve it".