Amazing as Gracie.

WE haven't seen anything of talented actress Jane Horrocks on our screens lately, so it's great to welcome her back in a fabulous role.

She shines as singer and actress Gracie Fields, in the second of BBC4's series about female British icons - last week it was Enid Blyton, next week it's Margot Fonteyn.

Gracie was one of the greatest stars of cinema and music hall in the 1930s, becoming the highest-paid entertainer in the world.

The film focuses on her relationship with Italian film director Monty Banks (Tom Hollander).

During the war, she went to the front line to entertain the troops but her work took its toll on her health and her marriage to Monty.

She was a woman torn between love and duty, who was branded a traitor by the British public who once adored her when she left for Canada with Monty, who was going to be interned.

Jane hopes this film will set the record straight about the Rochdale woman who she insists didn't desert her country.

"I wasn't very interested in Gracie when I was living up north," says Jane, who was born in nearby Rossendale Valley.

"I was introduced to her by somebody I was at RADA with. He was a fan and he gave me a Gracie Fields album.

At a showcase at RADA for agents and casting directors, instead of doing Shakespeare's Juliet, I performed Fred Fanakapan by Gracie. I had them all joining in at the end, which I think some casting directors still remember, whether fondly or painfully!

"This was a lovely project to come back to because I've not done anything for three years. I loved playing her.

"My fella Nick Vivian wrote it, he knew of my interest in her and we got the project off the ground together.

"They tortured me every morning by putting hot rods in my hair, which killed! I've suffered for my art, but the effect was very good."

Gracie!, BBC4, Monday, 9pm