Stardom left me Close to the edge; But actress Rachael tells Dawn Collinson she's ready to return to Brookside at last.
Byline: Dawn CollinsonIN the Brookside era of Barry and Terry's dodgy scams and dodgier perms, Rachael Lindsay was the wild child rebel, ginsoaked and trouble.
As feisty schoolgirl Sammy Rogers, she wreaked havoc through the Close before marrying local heartthrob Owen, having his baby and eventually bidding a temporary farewell to her TV home.
Off screen, Rachael appeared to have it all - strikingly pretty, earning more than most girls her age could dream of and dating her pin-up Brookside husband in real life.
Thousands of teenagers envied her and, when she left the series for the first time after six years aged 21, only a bright future was on the cards for the south Liverpool actress.
Looking back now, as she's about to start filming a third stint with the soap, she's philosophical about a seemingly mapped out career which is still yet to go entirely to plan.
There have, she admits, been plenty of tough times when she and Sammy have parted ways.
Acting jobs haven't been easy to come by, there have been long spells with no work at all, and her fairytale romance with co-star Danny McCall ended publicly and hurtfully.
It has, she concludes, been a rollercoaster ride.
"When you start working in TV as young as I did, you are removed from reality, " she says.
"I do think I had too much, too young. I didn't know what it was like to leave school and have to get a job.
I'd had a charmed childhood, gone to drama school, and then went straight to having lots of money and going to great parties.
"There was no saving up like everyone else to buy that dress for Saturday night. If I wanted that dress, I went out and got it."
But, despite the bank balance and fame, Rachael - now 29 - says there was a less obvious downside to being such a familiar face as a teenager.
Gangs of lads would shout obscenities and everyone wanted an argument with me or to put me in my place, " she remembers.
"I did find that hard at first, it really upset me. I felt very isolated and it was quite a lonely time.
"I just wanted to be normal and go out with mates but I was different. It didn't matter if I sat in a corner, it would be 'who do you think you are?' If I got up on the dancefloor it was 'look at her, big headed'. I just couldn't win."
After leaving Brookside the first time, in 1993, Rachael headed to London with high hopes, professionally and personally.
She had a major TV profile and was half of one of soap's most glamorous couples, but she reveals now that she hated living so far away from her family and friends.
"That was the last couple of years of my relationship with Danny and, to be honest, they were horrific, " she says.
When she and Danny (pictured) split after seven years together, she admits it was hard, although she now believes it would have been easier if their romance had been less public property.
"Danny was a very over-powering type of character. I was a strong woman, I always have been, but he was very much into being a showbusiness personality.
There were things which, looking back, I wouldn't have done. I'm not showbizzy at all, I'm quite a private person.
"I had some great times with him but I had some difficult times as well and, when the whole thing ended up very disastrously, it took me a long time to get over.
"I'd been in that relationship for seven years and I felt it had suffocated me at times so, once it was over, I just wanted to get back on my feet again, to grow again.
"Our paths don't cross now, they don't need to and I don't wish for them to, but that was six years ago and I don't hold any hate any more - that's all gone."
The first step in Rachael's new life was moving back to live in Formby near her parents, and to teach at her sister's drama school in Crosby.
She's also become a believer in faith and in fate.
"I've got into religion in the last five years so I realise that when everything was going wrong, it was for a reason, " she explains.
"I've gone through it and come out the other end and it's taught me to appreciate the present."
Rachael's present, for at least the next six months of her new Brookside contract, means returning to the Close as Sammy.
She's back on screen for the first time on November 30 and, Rachael promises, there'll be plenty of trademark twists and hidden agendas.
She's also got a new man in her life - a barber called Simon - who she says, is her secure, calming influence.
"I'm really happy and the present is really good, " she smiles. "I don't want to be a celebrity, I don't want to be famous, I've chosen acting as a career and that's what I want to be successful at.
"If I'd have got the biggest break of my life three years ago, emotionally I wouldn't have been able to cope. Now I feel a hell of a lot stronger and more positive than I've ever felt.
"Obviously I have hopes and ambitions for the future but at this moment I'm just happy with now."
CAPTION(S):
STAR QUALITY: Rachael now and in Brookside in the 80s (left)
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England) |
| Date: | Nov 21, 2001 |
| Words: | 919 |
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