Bernie Nolan has been reflecting on her childhood, thanks to her latest role as a career woman adjusting to motherhood.

“My mother had eight children, and there wasn’t much between us in age.

“Since having my own child I often think about Mum and wonder, ‘how on earth did she cope?’” says Bernie. “There was no dishwasher or central heating. She got up at 5am to light the fire.

“I can picture her collecting coal with a scuttle and using the mangle in the back garden. She cooked several different meals for us all – then she’d sing with us in the evenings!

“I just have one daughter and that’s a challenge. How did women of her generation do it?”

Bernie takes a comic, occasionally poignant look at motherhood in hit comedy Mum’s The Word, coming to Bradford. Featuring monologues from five mothers, it deals with the reality of child-rearing and its daily highs and lows. It was written by a group of Canadian women who went from glamorous professionals to exhausted, bedraggled mothers with ten children under six between them.

“It’s liberating because it deals with things mums have in common. Lines like, ‘I find it much easier to be a good mum in public’ will strike a chord with many women!” says Bernie. “When we’re on stage we hear people say things like, ‘Ooh, that happened to me’. It’s something audiences can identify with. It’s like Loose Women on stage!”

Bernie plays Robin, who becomes a mum unexpectedly. “She’s like me, she never wanted kids and was a tomboy. Then she has a child and it turns out she’s a good mum,” she says. “It’s a funny show – there’s a hilarious section involving a desperate attempt to get a baby to sleep – but there are tears too.”

All five cast members are required to be a mother. “I didn’t agree with that at first, since we’re all actresses playing roles,” says Bernie. “But maybe mothers probably get more out of the play. My eldest sister didn’t like it, but she doesn’t have children. My other sisters, who are mothers, loved it. That’s not to say you have to be a mum to enjoy it. Dads come along too.”

Dublin-born Bernie started performing with her family in working-men’s clubs. After moving to Blackpool the act became the Nolan Sisters and, with Bernie as lead vocalist, they were one of the biggest acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Life was a whirl of world tours, chart hits and TV appearances. They were huge in Japan, and performed with Frank Sinatra.

The hits included Attention To Me, Don’t Make Waves and disco classic I’m In The Mood For Dancing. But Bernie reveals it wasn’t all glamour.

“Work in the clubs can be gruelling,” she says. “I was only 13 when I started. I don’t look back with rose-tinted specs. The worst thing was our clean-cut image, manufactured by other people, which was hard living up to. We never managed to shake that off.

“We all had to wear matching outfits, which we hated. My friends took the mick. At the end of one tour we ceremoniously cut our stage clothes to bits – that felt good!”

Linda was first to leave and pursue a solo career. The others continued touring, releasing albums in Japan, then Coleen and Bernie left. Maureen and sister Anne continued as a scaled-down group, joined by Anne's daughter.

Eventually, Maureen went solo too.

Those frilly Seventies dresses were nowhere to be seen when the Nolans reunited last year for a hit UK tour. Wearing sexy costumes, the girls strutted with male dancers dressed as cowboys, firemen and strapping welders.

“It was amazing,” beams Bernie. “The audiences were fantastic, they were on their feet from the moment we hit the stage. We couldn’t have wished for anything more.

“At first I was sceptical about a tour but the time felt right, and the team behind it had done Take That’s Circus tour so we were in safe hands.

“It was a blast. Every night when we came on there was a roar from the crowd, I’d think, ‘Do they know it’s us?’ I’d love to do it again, hopefully next year.”

After the tour, Bernie went into training for ITV’s Pop Star To Opera Star. Her transformation into an assured classical singer, performing pitch-perfect arias on live television each week, thrilled viewers and she was a favourite to win. In the end she came runner-up to Darius Campbell. I tell her she should have won.

“About 15 people a day tell me that. There’s even a Facebook campaign about it,” she says. “I was more nervous in that show than I’ve ever been, I had to do it properly or it would look ridiculous. It took over my life.

“I thought I knew everything about music but opera was a new world; you use your whole body, it’s how you breathe, stand and move. I learned Italian so each song was word-perfect and we sang in character – I performed as a teenage boy one week!

“I’d like to keep it up but you know what it’s like when real life gets in the way. I went to see Katherine Jenkins recently and she sang a song I’d done on the show, it had me in tears. I wanted to be up there singing with her.”

Bernie combines singing with acting; her stage credits include Blood Brothers, and on TV she has had long-running roles in Brookside and The Bill.

“What I’d love to do is a sitcom. I love comedy,” she says.

Watch this space. If she can tackle those Italian arias, the girl can do anything.

Mum’s The Word runs at the Alhambra from April 6 to 10. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.