SOAP fans in Shopper Land will undoubtedly agree, there are few actresses who are more suitable than Coronation Street's Cilla Battersby-Brown (Wendi Peters) for the role of Wicked Queen in Snow White.

She deliberately upset more than a few apple carts during her time on The Street, so who better to dish out the bad apples at The Orchard Theatre's panto this Christmas?

With Janice Dickinson still recovering from her stint in the Jungle, Wendi is easily the most inspired choice on the casting front.

And she's delighted to be swapping her fishnets and stilettos for something much more wicked.

"Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without panto. It's good family entertainment and the kids will love it. We don't mind if there are three-year-olds running around the aisles, it's all part of the fun," she says.

What we really want to know is how much Cilla will inspire her new role?

She said: "There might be a little bit of Cilla creeping in, but I won't be playing her like Cilla. She will be the standard wicked queen. She is going to be really nasty, the more wicked the better.

"In fact I want the audience to really hate her and throw things at her."

Sounds exactly like Cilla, don't you think? But we'll take Wendi's word for it.

"I'm a bit worried I'm being typecast," she added.

"Cilla's relationship with Chesney is very similar to the Queen's with Snow White. It's going to be great fun being nasty. Everyone loves playing a baddie. I'm just going to be booed all Christmas."

Coming back to panto after a 10-year break, Wendi says the show is a welcome return to the theatre for her. In fact she's missed the stage.

"I'm really looking forward to coming back to Dartford she toured there back in 1994 and really getting back to my roots.

"I've done a lot of theatre in the past and been doing television for the past four years and even for a while before that. So it's going to be nice to get back on the stage with a live audience and just entertain and make a great show."

She said: "There aren't any immediate plans to bring Cilla back, but perhaps in the future, after all she has just gone off to Vegas. At the moment I'm happy spending time at home.

"I don't know, I mean never say never. It's been such a great four years and I have had such a fantastic time.

"If somebody had said to me four years ago, you're going to be in Coronation Street playing this character, singing on the stage with Status Quo, I would have said yeah whatever, don't believe you'.

"I decided I wanted to move on and do other things."

Wanting to make the most of her acting training, Wendi hopes to work in other mediums and tackle a range of roles.

"I'd like to go back to theatre for a bit, maybe more TV," she said.

"Period drama is something I'd really love to do; a Bronte, a Dickens or an Austen or something like that. And who wouldn't want to be in a film?

"I'm not going back to Corrie in the foreseeable future but maybe a few years down the line Cilla may turn up again."

At least Wendi is used to being the figure audiences love to hate.

"If I'm not being booed, I'm not doing my job properly," she agrees.

"So I've got to try and be as scary as possible."

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. The Orchard, Dartford. December 7 to January 13. Box office 01322 220000.