Actress Elizabeth Power became used to being recognised after playing Mrs Hewitt, the woman who tempted Arthur Fowler away from both his allotment and wife Pauline, in the BBC soap EastEnders. The global success of the Albert Square soap was reinforced by gasps of recognition at airports as far apart as America and Prague.

This was the inevitable result of appearing in such a popular show. What she hadn't reckoned on was Mrs Hewitt getting her a job in a horror movie, a role reuniting her with Bill Treacher, who played Arthur. But they met up again on the set of a film in Luxembourg, playing a couple once more in Talos The Mummy.

"It turned out that the director, Russell Mulcahy, was an avid fan of EastEnders," explains Power. "He was in Hollywood but used to get friends to video the Arthur and Mrs Hewitt scenes. So he thought it would be a good idea to get us together again. He thought it would be a great joke. We played a caretaker and his wife."

She had no idea just how high profile Mrs Hewitt would become when asked to join the EastEnders cast by producer, Leonard Lewis, for whom she'd worked previously on Juliet Bravo and Softly, Softly. "I got a call out of the blue asking if I could go up to the BBC at Elstree to meet him. Mrs Hewitt was going to be in five episodes and I thought, 'wonderful'," she recalls. She filmed her scenes and thought that would be the end of it. "Then I got a call from Leonard saying, 'we would very much like you to come back, would you like that?' It was all I could do to stop myself screeching down the phone. They didn't tell me which direction the story was going to take. I got on so well with Bill from the word go. We really liked each other."

When the affair ended, so did Power's stay in Albert Square although the Walford influence lived on. "It was nice for a while, because you get those first few jobs on the back of EastEnders and it certainly bumps up the audience for plays," she says. "Afterwards, I did Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus at Farnham and the houses were full. It was probably EastEnders that did it but it was a bloody good production as well."

She's been through her own traumatic marriage break-up - she was married to TV presenter Michael Aspel - since bidding farewell to Mrs Hewitt, and juggled career with raising two children, now aged 20 and 17. Ask how she's managed that and she replies honestly, "with difficulty". Every actress has to turn down roles while their children are young, taking the odd part that fits in with the school holidays, she says. "I don't begrudge doing it because I wanted kids," she says. "The ones that become mega-stars are quite selfish. Not that they don't love their children, but they concentrate on their careers. Perhaps I wasn't that driven. I don't see the point in having children and then taking off."

Theatre rather than TV has been keeping her busy post-EastEnders.

She's currently in Richard Harris's award-winning comedy Stepping Out, as stern piano teacher Mrs Fraser who tinkles the ivories at amateur tap dancing classes for enthusiastic, if not very proficient, amateur foot-tappers.

She arrived for our interview fresh from a day at the keyboard and polishing up her tap-dancing skills. "I'm afraid playing the piano is an attribute that's not around very much any more, at least among my circle of friends that aren't in the business," she says with regret. "They think it's incredible that anyone can play, although when they come round at Christmas they love to have a singsong."

Mrs Fraser is a tartar, while being fiercely protective of dance class teacher Mavis. "I've met ladies like her, particularly theatrical landladies. I don't know why they feel they have to be terribly aggressive and have a 'you can't get one over on me' attitude. After a week you find out they're absolute pussycats really. It's a particular Northern trait too, a speak as I find attitude."

Power is a Southerner, born in Eastbourne, and thinks she inherits her love of acting from her mother who was a larger-than-life character. "She wasn't a performer but had tremendous zest and loved any chance to be involved in things. I suppose because of the time she was born in, going on the stage was out of the question - but she was definitely an actress and very keen for me to have singing and dancing lessons, which I started from the age of four," she says.

At 14, she concluded that she wasn't physically suited to be a dancer. Her teacher suggested acting instead, even getting her a prospectus for Rada drama school. Young Elizabeth auditioned and was accepted at 17. "I just glided into it so I was still naive," she says. "Rada was good and I realised there was more than just going on stage and being clapped. After that, I got lots of jobs in rep, learning my craft and playing totally unsuitable roles - old ladies and the sort of stuff you did in those days."

She also made occasional forays into London's West End in musicals, although in the late 1960s and early 1970s they weren't the sort of shows that suited her vocal talents. "The musicals were mainly American imports. If you didn't have that big chesty voice, there was no place for you. Now with the renaissance of musicals and the Andrew Lloyd Webber thing, there's a more operatic quality."

* Stepping Out is at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, from June 27 to July 21. Box office 0113-213 7700.

Published: 22/06/2001