Profiles

After playing the longest-featured gay character in a British soap Leah Bracknell relishes the chance to pull in the crowds at York's Grand Opera House. "It's terrific to be working so near home, I do live in Yorkshire and it means that I can get home each night. I don't know York that well so it's also nice to be able to explore such a beautiful city."

Leah Bracknell in Casualty 1907

Leah's role in Emmerdale broke new ground for British soap, her character came out as a lesbian and then was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The way Zoe Tate's illness was portrayed on the programme is something Leah is very proud of. "We all took it very very seriously. When a soap takes an issue like that they do treat it sensitively. They did lots of research which I had access to. At that time mental illness hadn't really been touched on in a soap over a long period of time."

Emmerdale was Leah's big break after leaving drama school. "My father worked in the film and television industry and I suppose I followed a traditional path, school to drama school, then two years after finishing I got the job at Emmerdale.

"It was a wonderful place to work, it has a lovely atmosphere. The company is quite small so you do become very close to the people you work with, I think that's why so many people stay such a longtime with the show."

Since leaving Emmerdale she has gone back to the theatre and appeared in the TV dramas 'Judge John Deed' and 'Casualty 1907'. Leah also joined the cast of 'The Royal Today', which is made by Yorkshire Television, "It was great to go back to Yorkshire TV because so many of the crew were people I'd known from working on Emmerdale."

The cast of Jack and the Beanstalk.

As well as a busy career, she also teaches Yoga, Leah has two daughters, aged 17 and 13, "They do get embarrassed by me, I won't say what my 17 year old said when she was offered the chance to come and see me for a second time in last year's panto! Enough was enough of mum making a fool of herself dressed as a fairy!"

Although Leah's daughters don't harbour any acting ambitions of their own, her younger daughter did appear with her in Torquay last year, "They were short of children, so she stepped in to play the front end of the cow. It was great to have her with me and panto is so different from usual theatre, more relaxed with lots of youngsters around."

This will be Leah's second appearance as Fairy Peapod, she did Jack and the Beanstalk last year in Torquay,but what's next? "You're never sure in this profession. There is something in the pipeline but it's not confirmed yet so who know's where I'll be? For the moment I'm happy to be in York being a Fairy for Christmas."