Brookside

27 December, 1997 | By Chris Hughes

Diane Keen is making her first ITV soap appearance for more than 20 years. Then, as cocktail waitress Sandra Gould in Crossroads, she eloped to Jersey with a hotel manager. Now she’s making her soap comeback in Brookside as a wealthy widow - though her taste in men has taken a bit of a downturn. Her posh northern character, Molly Marchbank, has become the latest target of hapless Ron Dixon’s affections. They first met at a golf club function as Ron - played by Vince Earl - and David “Bing” Crosbie (John Burgess) tried to improve their social life. Sadly she mistook dinner-suited Ron for a waiter and Bing had to step in, explaining that they were both new to the club.

“I was a bit worried about going into this soap where everyone knew each other,” says Diane, 51, “but everyone was very kind to me. It was actually great fun, though I’d forgotten how much of a hard slog a soap can be. It took some getting used to.”

And there are a few surprises in store for the viewers as far as Molly is concerned - she actually quite likes Ron because he makes her laugh. “Despite the fact that she’s reasonably posh she warms to Ron because he’s so funny and quite charming,” says Diane. “And the fact that she’s got lots of money doesn’t escape Ron. He’s more than interested in the fact that she seems quite wealthy.”

Diane is a veteran of TV sit-coms, including The Cuckoo Waltz and Rings On Their Fingers, and dramas including September Song. But in her forties she suffered a backlash from her announcement that she would do no more TV comedy - casting directors took her at her word. She faced the scrapheap as job offers dried up, her home was repossessed and her marriage to TV producer Neil Zeiger hit the rocks. It was only her part in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries that lifted her, when she rediscovered her love for her husband, who was the producer, and they bought a beautiful country house in Hampshire. Things are now looking up again for Diane, who sets off for Los Angeles next month to take role in a new American sit-com and a movie.

“I’m really happy with the idea of going over there for a couple of months,” she says. “I’ve never felt able to do it before because I was always too busy. But I will miss my beautiful home and my lovely husband.”

© The Mirror, 1997