‘I'M BACK for another shot at fame!'

Actor Leslie Ash reveals why she waited so long to return to our screens

- LOUISE BURKE

It’s been 11 years since Leslie Ash disappeared from our television screens. But the star – famed for her roles in Men Behaving Badly and Quadrophenia – is back! After her hiatus, the 61-year-old actor has spotted an opportunity to make a comeback now ‘the world has changed’ and is set to appear in BBC soap Doctors later this year.

She’s delighted to be on TV once again, saying, ‘I am overjoyed to be back on screen. I’m at my happiest when I’m working.’ Leslie will be taking on the role of Mary McRae, mistress of the late womaniser Malcolm Brown.

She adds, ‘I have been waiting a long time and [have] been very patient. The world seems to have changed because of COVID – I’ve had loads of interest, which is fantastic.’

Ups and downs

Leslie credits her renewed popularity to people watching old episodes of Men Behaving Badly at home in lockdown. ‘I hit the jackpot with that show,’ she says. ‘The four of us were laughing all the time and taking the p**s out of people. It was like being in a band.’

Following the success of the show Leslie went on to appear in Where the Heart Is and Holby City, but it wasn’t long before she found herself gracing the front pages with dramatic headlines relating to her personal life, rather than her career.