Undiecover cop; The Bill's Jane Wall talks about quitting the show, her dreams of making it in Hollywood... and that revealing dress. By Mel Hunter.

Byline: Mel Hunter

When a gust of wind ruffled the flimsiest of frocks, few could have failed to feel a pang of sympathy for The Bill star Jane Wall. After all, flashing your breasts at the National Television Awards is hardly the kind of exposure most of us want.

But for Jane, who plays strait-laced PC Di Worrell, that evening breeze could not have come at a better time. For, by clever coincidence, the ambitious 29-year-old is busy preparing to break into the Hollywood big league.

Just weeks ago it was announced that goody-goody Worrell was to be axed from The Bill. A casualty of a revamp by the show's new executive producer, Jane is one of nine familiar faces facing the chop. But she insists it was a mutual decision to bow out in an explosive storyline early next year.

"I am at the end of my contract and I'd taken my character as far as I could go," says Jane. "The Bill has been fantastic, but I did not want to be there forever."

Her three years in the cop drama have been enjoyable. Jane has made many friends among the Sun Hill cast and been able to count on a regular salary. Yet it is this very routine that she can't wait to leave behind.

"When I became an actor, one of the things I loved was the constant change," she says. "That's why I got into acting in the first place. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and having that change again. I'd love to do something light and frothy - something different from The Bill - to really remove myself from my uniform."

Getting out of uniform is exactly what she did at the recent TV Awards, when she wore a mushroom-coloured, see-through dress by Lyall Hakaraia. Jane says there was no publicity stunt intended when she stepped out with little more than a pair of La Perla knickers to preserve her modesty. But it is not an experience she plans to repeat.

"I didn't know it would provoke such a strong reaction," she says. "So many girls at the awards dress up to the nines, I didn't think it would get noticed as much. At one point I did think, `Is it too much?' but everyone said go for it. I thought it was a beautiful dress - and I still do. I said when I saw it, `It'll be a show-stopper'. But it is just a dress. In the scheme of my life it is absolutely nothing."

If Jane's Hollywood dream comes true, that dress may soon be a distant memory. She is flying to LA in the New Year for various casting appointments and, although she plans to come home, she is prepared to stay in Hollywood if things work out. She knows it is a huge step and that there are no guarantees. Others, including Holby City's Lisa Faulkner, have sought fame and fortune out there, only to return deflated a few months later.

"Going to LA is daunting," admits Jane. "But if there is something you have always wanted to do, you just have to go for it and see what happens. And as long as I don't have to have colonic irrigation and eat air it will be fine.

"It is hard leaving a show which is popular and I will miss the people there. The camaraderie is fantastic."

The Bill is not all she will miss. She will also be leaving behind her boyfriend and childhood sweetheart Danny Griffiths, lead singer with rock band Archive. Despite recent rumours of a split, Jane claims the couple, who have been together for nearly ten years, are still an item. But she remains tight-lipped when asked how he feels about her plans to relocate to America.

Los Angeles will certainly be different to Croydon, where Jane was brought up by her Nigerian mother and English father.

Jokingly, she says, "Lots of people I know who have done well come from Croydon - it's one of those places you grow up in and want to move away from... Not that there's anything wrong with it, but London is so close it is just one of those places you always have in your sights."

Jane, who came to Britain from Nigeria when she was one, showed acting talent from an early age.

"I used to make up little playlets in my backyard with my best friend," she says. "We'd bribe our parents to watch it and get them to pay one pence for a programme."

She was accepted by the first drama school she applied to and sometimes wonders whether she "fell into" acting. But her latest plan to crack Hollywood is hardly the action of someone chancing their luck.

"I truly believe you have to embrace all the opportunities you are given. Although there is a feeling of, `Oh my God'."

You can't help but wonder if the very same thought went through her head as she stepped out in that dress.

l The Bill, Friday, ITV1, 8pm.

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	The Mirror (London, England)
Date:	Nov 10, 2001
Words:	844
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