Strallen struggled to keep 'Maria' secret

Hollyoaks star Summer Strallen has confessed that she found it difficult to keep her Sound Of Music role a secret.

Her character Summer Shaw was seen winning the part of Maria in the West End musical after managing to persuade Andrew Lloyd Webber to let her audition.

However, it later emerged that the actress had been chosen for the role six months earlier and was planted in the Channel 4 soap when producer Tony Wood suggested blurring reality and fiction.

Strallen, 23, will be seen rehearsing for her stage debut in future episodes of Hollyoaks before leaving to replace How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? winner Connie Fisher later this month.

Talking about keeping the truth about her role quiet, she said: "It was so hard! In the West End a rumour gets around in a minute because it is such a close circle of people. The only people that knew for about two months were my boyfriend and my best friend.

"I told my family that my agent had been in touch with Hollyoaks and asked if there was anything free, and that that's how I got the part."