I've only appeared in two theatres this year ...operating theatres

AMANDA BARRIE on birthday bashes, a decades-long career and having surgery

- BY JESSICA BOULTON

IT WAS three years after VE Day when 13-year-old northerner Shirley Broadbent first stood on the steps outside London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

In the tradition of the great Victorian actors before her, she said a prayer - not for fame, money, marriage or even a home that was better than her current Soho boarding house.

She had just one wish: to act. Anywhere and anyhow she could.

It was in that same theatre that she later sneaked into an audition, underage, and won her first major pantomime role.

It was also there that she married the love of her life.

And next week, after a 77-year career, Amanda Barrie will once again return to its Grand Salon this time to celebrate her 90th birthday. A lot has changed in eight decades, including her name.

But the Coronation Street and Bad Girls legend isn’t dreading the milestone - she’s simply relieved to be here at all.

For today she reveals she’s undergone two life-changing operations in the past six months one in March to replace a valve in her heart using pig tissue and the other in June to replace her hip.

The second should have been straightforward, had her allergy to general aesthetic not meant she was awake to hear every bone-cracking sound the surgeon made.

“So far this year I've appeared in two theatres,” Amanda smiles. “Both operating theatres. But I did have two marvellous leading men, to whom I was happy to relinquish top billing!