MEMORY: It's a very early memory of being wheeled along Blackburn Road in Accrington in a pram and looking up and seeing my mum in a yellow and black spotted coat.

HEROINE: Probably Doris Day. I loved her. I recently found an old poetry book and at the end I had written: "I fancy myself as Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews."

KISS: Michael Holt at the Hyndburn Sports Centre disco. They used to have under 14s discos on Friday nights. I don't know what he's doing now.

LOVE: Bruce Pelleymounter. I always fantasised about us getting married so we could have a really long double-barrelled surname.

HOUSE: The house I grew up in is where my mum and dad still live in Church. But the first house I bought was a little one-bedroom flat in London. I am partly based in London now but I also have a home in the countryside outside Manchester.

JOB: At a bathroom and kitchen sales room in Accrington. It was a Saturday job and I sold toilet seats and accessories. It was my spending money for Saturday night.

RECORD: Are Friends Electric? by Tubeway Army. I liked Wham, the Smiths and Doris Day.

CAR: When I joined Coronation Street I bought an F-registered Fiat Uno, called Betty (after Betty in Coronation Street -- doesn't do much but very reliable). I've only just given her away to a friend of ours and bought a Mini. I also have a pink Citroen camper van that looks like an old ambulance.

HOLIDAY: Doug's Digs in Cleveleys. We used to go there every year. I loved Cleveleys and used to play on the trampolines.

EMBARRASSMENT: When I was very little we were at Cleveleys and I remember getting loads of chewing gum stuck in my long hair and having to have it all cut off. My hair's short now so it's not a problem.