All Tricia wants is to sing

Tricia Penrose has gained her ticket to acting fame with her role as barmaid Gina in the popular television series Heartbeat. But despite her success she is looking further afield, as TERI FITSELL finds.

At the age of 27, Tricia Penrose has already notched up 13 years in British television, the past seven in the lighthearted 1960s police series Heartbeat (tonight, 8.35, TV One).

She plays barmaid Gina and while acknowledging she loves the character - from her back-combed hair down to her micro miniskirts - and loves the series, Tricia confesses, on the phone from Yorkshire, that all she really wants to do is sing.

"Singing is how I started in showbiz," explains the Liverpudlian actress, in her heavy scouse accent, coming as a surprise after Gina's Yorkshire tones. Tricia, born and bred in Kirby, began her career in the infamous northern clubs, the unforgiving training ground of many a British celeb. In her early teens she was half of a double act, with her mum, called Second Image.

"My mum did the country and western songs, while I did the pop," she explains. "You know, Madonna and the like. Singing was my first love and still is. I only got into television because I was really lucky."

Her television break came at age 14 when a friend of her dad's put in a good word and she landed a small role on Brookside. Tricia would make a bigger impact on the series when she returned five years later as the seductress who would tempt Damon Grant away from his wife. It would also tempt viewers to send Tricia hate mail by the sackload.

"I loved it actually, I usually seem to play nice people, so the bad girl was a welcome change."

In between she also appeared as a nurse on Medics, starred alongside respected actor Michael Elphick in Boon, and played parts in Coronation Street, Emmerdale.

"In fact, I've been in every major British soap apart from EastEnders, so I'm working on my Cockney accent now."

It was in 1992 that Tricia landed the role on a promising new series called Heartbeat. The programme now attracts more than 18 million viewers a week in Britain. Tricia puts its popularity down to viewer-friendliness.

"Heartbeat is easy to watch. There's no real violence," she says. "Mind you that village [Aidensfield] must have the highest crime rate in the world. There's only about 30 people living there, but there's major criminal activity going on each week. Then that villain disappears never to be seen again and another one comes along.

"The village used in the series is actually called Goathland, in Yorkshire. They call the area there God's Country and I think viewers like the beautiful scenery.

"Then there's the music, all those lovely 60s songs. I love 60s music, Adore it." Adores it so much in fact that her character Gina usually gets to sing a couple of songs a series and Tricia herself is working on a CD featuring music from the era.

"I've already released one single, back in 1996. The A-side was the Supremes song Where Did Our Love Go?, and the B-side was Band of Gold. It made it into the Top 70. We put it out at Christmas and it got a bit swamped. But I still think it's amazing that 12,000 people actually bought my record."

Amazed or not, presumably she's hoping the next one will do better? "Yeah, I'm working on it now, in between filming on Heartbeat. It's a mix of 60s covers and original songs and it'll be released in October.

"I'd love to be a big international singer, to make it big in America and to tour everywhere. I do concerts here all the time. I hire a venue, then give half the proceeds to charity ... and they're always sell-outs."

But wouldn't international singing stardom mean saying goodbye to Heartbeat?

"That would be a problem. I've been on Heartbeat seven years now, and I love it, love everyone I work with. It'd be very hard to leave. And it doesn't look like it's going to end soon.

"It's already been confirmed we are filming the 10th series in February 2000. It's weird it lasting so long. There we all are, stuck in a time warp.

"We've been in 1968 for years now. One day I think Aidensfield's going to have to reach the 70s ... but the hairstyles wouldn't be so big, would they?"

Who: Tricia Penrose

What: Heartbeat

Where: TV One

When: tonight, 8.35