Anna Friel: 'I'm grateful for Brookside'

Anna Friel has revealed that she will always be grateful to the producers who cast her in Brookside.

The actress signed up to play Beth Jordache on the now-defunct Channel 4 soap at the age of 16.

Though Friel only stuck with the role for two years, Beth's lesbian kiss with neighbour Margaret Clemence (Nicola Stephenson) and involvement in the death of dad Trevor (Bryan Murray) made her one of the programme's most memorable characters.

"My partner David says to me, 'When you're 80, it will be Brookside'. No matter what I do, like a big massive anchor round my neck," Friel told BANG Showbiz. "But I'd be an absolute idiot to say, 'Gosh I don't realise what that did for me'.

"It would be so ungrateful. I thank the day when they said, 'You're going to play Beth Jordache'. To do something that's still remembered now, I suppose I have to think there are not many things like that."

The 33-year-old is currently starring in a production of Breakfast At Tiffany's in the West End.