Liverpool Echo from Liverpool, Merseyside, England • 7

in the tough commercial world of American advertising. "No, Ican't say I have had those experiences," concedes Miss van Kemp, "but I am a very strong person." And the eyes tell youyou'd better believe it. Her own story is almost the stuff from which a Hollywood blockbuster might be fashioned. Daisy's parents were a Russian prince and an American movie star. Merete's parents were a Danish businessman and a German ballet dancer.

After boarding school in Switzerland, she got away to Paris and carved herself a career as a model, before heading for Los Angeles with a return ticket in her pocket (a precaution her father taught her) to try her luck as an actress. In Paris she didn't get attacked physically but she did feel she was experience she feels helped her understand Daisy's struggles. Just so naive "In the fashion world there are so many hangers on inside and outside the business. "I was just so naive when I arrived in Paris. I was the little girl arriving in the big city and the place was full of people saying, 'lf you have an affiar with me, I can make you a I felt mentally raped.

"Yes, it was the same thing as the casting couch in Hollywood terms. Yet, I've never had that experience in Los Angeles." "I really was the little innocent abroad, but the experience certainly helped me cope when I came to America." What really made her leave Paris, though, was the way she was always just somebody else's creation as a wanted to make me like Marlene with an urge to act she had recognised since childhood. She was actually going after another part when she was suggested for Princess Daisy and had to survive several screen tests before she learned she had finally landed the role. "I grew a lot between those auditions. I kept going back and each time I had improved a little." No wish to return Although she had previously played opposite John Hurt in a film role, Princess Daisy propelled her to the top of a cast list that includes such names as Claudia Cardinale, Lindsay Wagner (the ex-Bionic Woman who plays her mother), Paul Micheal Glaser (of Starsky and Hutch fame) and Stacey Keach.

Taking a pair of superior bit parts as a gay fashion designer his wife, are our own Ringo Starr and his wife Barbara Bach. The series has already been seen in America and has sold to Europe and Australia. It has also, she thinks, been sold to her native Denmark, which prompts the smile again, although she had no wish to return. "I have this fear of going back, the thought just kind of scares me. "I'm in Hollywood now and I'm happy there.

It's my town and it has got what I want most Warlike attitude ON ITV news we were shown the new American bomber plane just off the production line and ready for service. A clergyman was conducting a religious service and actually blessing this monstrosity while at the same time the American commentator was triumphantly announcing that this new plane is "capable of delivering a Cruise missile right to the heart of Russia." Is the U.S. already at war with the Soviet Union or is it just wishful thinking? And how can Christians condone this war-like aggressive attitude while at the same time trying to live up to Christ's teaching of peace and reconciliation. Mrs. Olive Callaghan, Lime Grove, Seaforth.

This fine show AS visitors to Liverpool my wife and I and my mother who is in her eighties paid a visit to the Playhouse Theatre to see Cavern of Dreams. We all had a very enjoyable evening, watching a first class show performed by a first class cast. Honest 'cabby' ON Monday evening September 2, my wife and I arrived in Lime Street from Bristol. In the pouring rain we managed to get a cab. After five minutes at home my wife discovered she had left her bag in the taxi.

We both went sick. I set out back to the taxi rank faced with a hopeless task. My wife told me on return that the cab driver had phoned stating her bag was safe, a few minutes after I had left. Not only did he take the trouble to phone, but he returned the bag later. Our eternal and profound gratitude goes out to our a Mr.

Carl Larsen from West Derby. David Palmer, Litherland. A recent letter to the Echo commented on the language used during the show. Let me assure all who may wish to visit this fine showdon't be put off. In no way does a little earthy language spoil the entertainment.

THE flowers are blooming down in Brookside Close. As happens after a couple of years In any new estate, the Legolike houses are beginning to look lived In and the shrubs are starting to mature. But the surestsir izt everything In the garden is Is the graph twining Its way up the wan of Phil Redmond's office. it shows that Brookside, the Channel 4 soap opera made on location In this leafy corner of West Derby, Is heading closer to four million viewers with every the cool young creator of Grange Hill, turned entrepreneur to sell the Idea of Brookside to the newly created fourth channel. Two years ago he moved back from the South to see his brainchild born just a couple of miles down the road from the Huyton estate from where he was brought up.

Now, despite a shaky start led Mrs. Whitehouse to call It the worst programme ever transmitted In family viewing time, his baby is beginning to grow up. Is week it was shunted to Monday night instead of Marie's sister Petra, who ended up committing suicide In a North Wales hotel, may have gone, but she is certainly not forgotten. They still get letters from people who missed the reievent episodes and demand to know what happened to her. Another of the original characters, Roger Huntington, Is no longer around either.

He was divorced by the lovely Heather for his extra marital antics and the message from the fans Is that Redmond must never bring back Roger the "ft Is not that they disliked him, but they admire Heather for making a stand as a woman and they don't want to her to weaken, explains the man who created and then parted the pair of them. Attraction Heather, It seems, still retains her attraction. "Any hint of a romance and the letters start roll- Ini ks to the experience gained both by the actors and the production people, the Collins family have also gone up in the popularity stakes, according to Redmond. A drearily pretentious pair from the Wirral in the early episodes, seem to have won some sympathylately and Doreen Sloane who plays Annabelle, is even flowering as some kind of middle-aged fashion queen. "She certainly gets a lot of letters from older women complimenting her on how nice she always looks." Often It Is the little things that catch the public's imagination, says Redmond.

"We only showed those garden gnomes of Harry Cross's in a couple of episodes, but they really caught on and people are always mentioning them. "Then there Is Shells Grant's pregnancy which which at first was just hinted at. The funny thing was how many people noticed the litte remarks about her feeling tired and so on, and got on to us to ask If she had cancer. "In a way, though, I think that Is a sign It means you are good l7l 1v quite a lot unsaid and letting the viewers imaginations go to work. That Is what all the good drama does." Like any good soap opera, Brookside also keeps you clang- ling.

Will Sheila Grant and the baby be all right? Will Heather find a man? And above all, will George Jackson wind up in gaol? Ask Phil Redmond and you get the inevitable reply "Just keep watching!" Redmond's baby comes day In the schedules a move designed to nudge It even closer to the magic four million viewers Redmond would like to have by Christmas. On Monday It now follows straight after Coronation Street. And next to 'Will Mavis the big question all soap fans are asking is 'will George go to On our next visit to Merseyside we will once again spend an evening at the Playhouse, so to all those responsible for Cavern of Dreams, Thanks Very Much. M. P.

and B. J. Cooke, Farnham, Surrey. No supervision HOW I agree with Pensioner. Gateacre.

We've also had work done on pavements in this area, and it's been left a disgrace. I'm a pensioner and I could have made a better job of it. The workmen get away with murder. There doesn't seem to be any supervision whatsoever. It was better before they started.

Another Pensioner, Knowsley. of age Nobody has actually spotted George Jackson Is Innocent O.K.' scrawled on a bus shelter yet, but tt Is bound to come. Says Redmond: "Even the police seem fascinated by the storyline. I was stopped by a police car the other day and as he started to go, the driver said, 'Just one more thing. Can you tell me If George is going to be sent I gave him the reply I always give: Just keep watching." The saga of George a nice bloke who gets mixed up with some nasty characters is typical Brookside.

The serial mixes domestic drama with such grim reminders of the outside world as unemployment (both the posh Col- Illness and the down-to-earth Grants know all about that), the problems of today's teenagers and the shadowy lines between a sharp lad like Barry Grant and a reel criminal like the Infamous Tommy IslcArdle. Intensity The Jackson family, In fact, attract a lot of Interest, much of it centred on the mouthy Marie. She Is played by Anna Keaveney with the kind of Intensity that must make her Brookside's first real star even If most of the letters say how much they hate her. Redmond says a storyline that brought a big response was Marie's ambition to send her twin sons to a private school. "I had thought it was a bit boring, but the letters showed people were Intrigued by the conflict fac- Liverpool Echo, Wednesday, September 12, 1984 7 a.

0, 1 41 4 l6. 1, 03 '11 .6,: I 6 Brookside creator 4 .14 1 .4 4 A Phil Redmond: 4 lie 6it A II it "-t. 0'ki We let .1 1 6, t. to 1 .40 1 the viewers imaginations ON BRAO KsIDE work. That's Ike 40 1 .2.

what all do s- the good -A. drama does li, f. 1 14 4 44e.4. t. 1 5 4,, 5 4 6r: Left: Amanda OP.

Burton and Anna Keaveney who ,1 1. th play Heather and i A Marie. Right: Simon O'Brien (Damon) and Robbie Cullen 0,. (Gizzmo) ik t- f. and the now 4 ing working class people who have '-'t famous gnomes.

4 0 aspirations." Marie's sister Petra, who ended up committing suicide In a North Wales hotel, may have gone, but she is certainly not forgotten. They still get letters from people who missed the relevent episodes and demand to know what hannened to Keep your letters short. We reserve the right to edit. Write on one side of paper only. Print clearly your name and address..