Bradford-born actress, TV presenter and playwright Trish Cooke is back in her home city after 13 successful years' writing and broadcasting in London.

Trish, whose parents were born in Dominica, has a 45-minute play on Radio 4 next Tuesday afternoon.

Those Old Metal Things is about a West Indian couple married for 50 years and their niece, married for just two, and what happens when the latter visits the former. It stars Cathy Tyson (of Band of Gold and Mona Lisa fame) as the niece, and Mona Hammond (Desmonds and Eastenders) as the mother.

Trish, who presented Play Days for nine years for BBC1, says the play is serious with comic moments. She describes it as her second serious play for radio, following 1996's Mary's Light.

Like the late Andrea Dunbar of Rita, Sue, and Bob Too fame, Trish was born in Buttershaw. She went to Buttershaw Comprehensive School, where she attended drama classes taken by teacher Tony Priestley.

"He was really excellent. That was where it all started for me," Trish said.

She gained a BA in performing arts after studying at Leeds Polytechnic and Ilkley College. An important break came when the London-based Black Theatre Co-Operative offered her an Equity card, allowing her to act. She spent six months with them, and then began to make her own way.

Her CV lists an impressive array of varied work for television, film, radio, as well as theatre and books.

As an actress on TV she has appeared in Coronation Street as well as presenting Play Days. Her writtenwork for television includes an episode of Eastenders, Brothers and Sisters and sketches for The Real McCoy.

Her written work for the theatre includes stage plays for Stratford's Theatre Royal (Joan Littlewood's old stamping ground), Hammersmith's Lyric Theatre, and in 1995 Love Them To Death commisioned by West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Since 1987 busy Trish has turned out a dozen books for children, published by reputable publishers, and she has three pre-school picture books coming out soon - The Grandad Tree: Zoom: and When Will Baby Be here?

But why did Trish, who has two children of her own, Kieron, 10, and Jermain, 20 months, come back to Bradford?

"I had lived in London long enough, enough for me. Play Days finished two years ago, although there are repeats on Friday afternoons and I decided to come up. I just like Bradford. London is a bit fast. I miss the theatres but not the traffic. If you're going to see someone it takes so long to get there.

"My family is here, and it's nice to be around me mum!" she laughed.

Despite her successful career in London, Trish exhibits none of the airs and graces one might associate with someone with such a distinguished track record.

If you ask her who she knows in the glitzy world of entertainment, it's not Sir Ian or Sir Derek she mentions, but Mr Blobby!

She laughed as she said that one of her best friends in the profession was Bradford actor Barry Killerby, the man in the pink suit.

Trish is currently writing scripts for a new children's show for BBC TV, The Tweenies, which she says is like an alternative to The Teletubbies for children of three and upwards.

Jim Greenhalf

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.