Coming clean on soaps!

That's the price of television fame, according to the two well-known faces of soap opera who star in the Bolton Octagon's new play All Of You Mine.

Susan appeared as Rosie Banks in Brookside. Her traffic warden character fell into disgrace when she blew all of her Lottery winnings in a gambling frenzy.

David currently appears on television as DS Alan Wakefield in The Cops but is also known for his portrayal as the evil Billy Hopwood in Emmerdale.

Although both have long and impressive theatre credits to their names, they agree the consequence of appearing three times a week in people's living rooms can be far-reaching.

Susan said: "I still get grief for blowing the Lottery money. I couldn't queue up for a ticket for years."

David said: "When I was first working on Cops there was a cleaner called Beryl. Every morning I would walk past her and say 'Good morning' and she would always ignore me. I couldn't understand it and in the end I asked her what was wrong. She turned to me and muttered it was because I was a bad so-and-so.

"People would shout out at me all the time. Sometimes it would get so tiresome that I would just turn round and play along, saying 'Well, what do you want, I gave the kid 50 quid.'

"Overall though, I enjoy people talking to me. But in a group there will always be one, usually a woman of about 45 who smokes, who looks me up and down with a filthy look, muttering under her breath. I usually win people over in the end though."

Susan added: "The sadness is that after appearing in something like a soap many people do not talk to you normally. After a while they usually turn round and say 'But you are quite normal really'. I think after being in somebody's living room three times a week, they feel they know you." The pair also destroy any myths that living life as a soap star is in any way glamorous.

David said: "You are nothing more than a warm prop. It is a well-known saying on television but very true. Television is a great leveller.

"When I first arrived on the Emmerdale set I was terrified. The cast were very friendly. Each came to introduce themselves and were very warm. But I was still frightened when it came to filming my first scene.

"When they tell you to do it over you immediately think it is you who made the mistake. But it is not. You really are a warm prop -- the actor is often last in line after just about every technician on set.

"And sometimes the take they go with can be the actor's worst, yet if the lighting, sound and camera angles are at their best, no one bothers too much."

Susan agreed: "I didn't want to stay with Brookside forever. Three and a half years was good. I would never have had a chance to learn about television otherwise. It is a totally different technique to acting on stage."

David added: "On stage you look to the director all the time. On television you learn the camera man and sound man are your best mates."

But the power of television is something both actors are only too well aware of. Susan said: "When you say you are an actor, everyone immediately thinks of television. Before I ever appeared on television, all people would ask is 'What programmes have you appeared on?'

"It is as though nothing else counts. Before I did Brookside I was working between jobs on the perfume counter of a department store. It was only short-term and part-time to tide me over at Christmas.

"But when I got the part in Brookside it was reported I had been plucked straight from the perfume counter to become a soap star. It was as though all the acting in theatre I had previously done counted for nothing. No one wanted to know.

"Theatre audiences have always traditionally been a different group from those who watch soaps on television. Perhaps though that is changing now."

David said: "I think people learn that being in a theatre audience is far different to being part of a television audience. The audience in theatre has a role to play. Pantomime is a classic example. You can usually tell how well you are doing by the level of noise!"