The trademark long red tresses have gone as Patsy Palmer finally leaves Bianca and Albert Square far behind to star in a one woman musical by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. She talks to Viv Hardwick.

PATSY Palmer admits she's never had a singing lesson in her life and has never appeared in a one-woman show, but she didn't think twice about taking on the tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman showcase Tell Me On A Sunday.

On a Wednesday, after a hectic journey up to Aberdeen, the former EastEnders star admits: "My head is spinning a little bit. I think it's a great experience for me and a great opportunity to do something completely different. I've never done a one-woman show before and I've never sung on stage before for ten minutes, let alone an hour-and-a-half.

"I got asked to do it and thought 'why not?' I knew it was singing, which would be a challenge because I'm not a trained singer, and I wasn't quite sure how they would want me to sing it. They said 'just act it' and I learnt the songs and I see it as more of an acting job than a singing job. For me, this is quite an achievement and I've had great reviews."

The Essex-based performer, who has pledged never again to yell 'Ri-ck-aaay' across Albert Square, heads for Sunderland's Empire Theatre next week. Her three children will be in the audience.

Hopefully, Charley, 12, Fenton, three, and Emilia two, will be more impressed with mum on stage than they were at rehearsals. She confesses that when she started singing songs around the house, during the run-up to opening night, "they kept telling me to shut up".

Her aim is for the voice to hold out until Bradford when many of her friends will see Patsy complete her leg of the tour, which is being shared with Marti Webb and ex-Steps singer Faye Tozer.

Gone are the familiar long red tresses of Bianca Butcher, replaced by a cropped blonde mop. "It's the first time I've ever had my hair that short, but at least I can wear wigs now," says Patsy. "Red hair is very striking and it does put you in quite a different position because the hair speaks before you do and everyone sees the hair first. I love it really and I'll definitely grow it back before I die.

"It's been so difficult for me to get away from this Bianca trademark. It's so flattering that people are still interested in it but I'm not interested in Bianca in the slightest any more. I really thought the spin-off TV special with Sid (Owen) would help to show I'd moved on, but after that I decided I'd never go back and maybe that's a good thing. You can't really get that character back, you create it while you're within the environment of the soap."

She points out it was all Andrew Lloyd Webber's fault she got into showbiz in the first place. "I was in a Lloyd Webber musical when I was six as a member of the choir in Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. That's what started me off. I also sang on Pink Floyd's The Wall.

"Do you know what? Maybe this is the first time in my life that I've got a bit of ambition and I'm very focused at the moment, and I've never been focused. I think you're all over the place in your 20s. I always wanted to be an actress but I was always lucky through having worked since I was six years old.

"I've gone from job to job working with amazing people, but I also had a nice life outside of acting where I'd rather have been with me mates. Then I did Grange Hill followed by EastEnders. Then I had a bigger family, so I was concentrating on the children and now they are bigger I have the chance to do things I really enjoy rather than stuff for the money. Now it's not about the money any more, I'd much rather be creative than rich, which I know sounds mad... although I'll have to get the kids through university first."

TV audiences will next see Palmer in a period drama, based on Anthony Trollope's He Knew He Was Right, which she's just finished filming for BBC1. "It's set in the 1800s and concerns a bloke who gets really paranoid about his wife, but it totally seems to be just going on in his head," she says. "My role is the wife of a private investigator (played by Ron Cook) called Mrs Bozzle. Ron's about to be seen in The Thunderbirds film so I was really excited about being married to the man playing Parker... and he's lovely as well."

* Tell Me On A Sunday runs at Sunderland's Empire Theatre from Monday until next Saturday (March 13). Box Office: 0870 602 1130

Published: 06/03/2004