SARAH Lancashire made a rare public appearance at the Arndale Centre in Manchester - and the BEN grabbed a few words with her while she was there. She who was Raquel positively glided along the mall's hall, head majestically high, to take her position at the Cable and Wireless stand. Everything was going according to plan, until two girls in the audience could be overheard talking just that bit too loudly. "Where is she then?" asked one. "She's there, the one with the big chin," answered her friend. Then they turned around, and left. Ouch!

Chin apart, Sarah looked stunning - dressed to the nines, with sunglasses permanently perched on top of her well-groomed hair.

Had she overheard the girl's remark, the Oldham actress would no doubt have retaliated in the sharp-witted fashion for which she has a bit of a reputation. Still, why bother about the chin, if you are secure in the knowledge that your behind was once voted "rear of the year"?

Cable and Wireless had invited the former Coronation Street celebrity to promote their Internet services. But, it turned out that Sarah is actually stuck on the lay-by of the Information Super Highway.

However, she smilingly fiddled about on the stand's computers for the cameras, endearingly telling the audience that her two young sons - Thomas and Matthew - have a computer at home, which she is clueless about.

So it takes her half an hour of "wiggling about" with the mouse to switch the thing off. The PR girl confirmed her computer illiteracy. Talking to her about a web-site, Mrs Lancashire apparently asked: "what kind of site?"

Clearly, she knows more about acting. Where The Heart Is, the series about two sisters-in-law (Sarah Lancashire and Pam Ferris) who are district nurses, was the biggest TV drama hit last year.

It takes a heart-warming, humorous and often moving look at their lives' goings-on in the fictional town in Skelthwaite, West Yorkshire.

Ms Lancashire said she is "thrilled" about its success, and filming the second series, in and around Huddersfield, only finished six weeks ago.

"By the second series, everyone knows each other, and there is a very friendly atmosphere," she said. It is public knowledge that she and Pam Ferris get on famously, and giggle a great deal.

But she explained in a serious voice that everyone does realise that "they are there to get on with the job."

One of her colleagues in the series is Stagecoach School, Bolton, pupil Jessica Baglow, who plays Pam's on-screen daughter Lucy.

The eight-year-old is "tremendous", said Sarah. Sadly, she would not pass on any tips for the rising star from Adlington, saying: "I never offer career advice, we are all here for different reasons."

Sarah's own acting career started off in musical theatre in the West End, she revealed. She often puts her subsequent gaining of great roles down to luck, and does not worry about her future acting career, saying: "I don't like planning. I like living my life day by day."

But the success of Where The Heart Is and Blooming Marvellous - co-starring Clive Mantle - must have been a relief after drawing a line under seven secure years of pint pulling at the Rovers Return.

Her sons, by the way, apparently said the series is better without their mum. Fortunately, Sarah seems to have forgiven them for that remark, saying "being a mother is very high on my list of priorities".

She also said her household is a perfectly normal one, including "scratching around for knickers and socks in the ironing basket" in the morning.

As far as returning to Weatherfield, Granada has left it open for Raquel to come back from Kuala Lumpur. But Sarah denied she has any plans in that direction at the moment.

She seems happy enough playing the nurse - a profession she would never consider herself.

Ruth, she said, is "a nice woman, very caring and committed to her family and her job, but quite feisty. She doesn't let anyone get away with very much."

Sounds familiar.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.