Filmography - Actress

Details from the Official The Bill website

Hobbies: Chinese food, Eastenders, hot holidays and spending time on her Sega Mega-drive. She's frightened of cats!

There's an out-take of film in a safe place at "The Bill" in which Lisa Geoghan as Polly Page walks to the canteen. Her uniform is fine, down to her stockings. But, caught by the camera, though edited out for viewers, is a shot of a pair of golden slippers in place of the regulation lace-ups.

This exotic footwear - all that could be found in a hurry by the wardrobe department - was need for a sprained ankle and a swollen foot. Lisa had been filming a struggle with an angry man in "No Job for a Lady", screened in May. She was supposed to get hurt - that's why she had a faked bloody nose and a bruised eye. The ankle was a 'bonus'. But, despite the pain, the show had to go on.

'The trouble was that I was whizzed off to see a doctor but I couldn't get him to look at my leg,' Lisa recalls. 'He was staring at my face, calling for a nurse to come and clean me up. Of course, I'd forgotten that I had a large lump of congealed blood and stuff hanging from my nose. I'd been wearing that for days on the shoot. I said, "Oh, don't worry about that; it's only make-up," which made him look even more baffled. He must have thought: Strange make-up she likes to wear!'

Lisa isn't complaining about the side-effects of Sun Hill life. It just makes her glad she's only acting it, she says. 'I could never be a policewoman in a million, zillion years. I'd just be crying and running away from every violent situation. It's all I can do to carry that heavy walkie-talkie and the handcuffs that weigh a ton. I was knackered every night when I got home when I first began.'

Lisa is like Polly in that they're both cheerful cockneys, both live in Bermondsey and neither wants to move or become a housewife. Twenty-seven-year old Lisa lives with her long-term boyfriend, postman Michael Power. But they have no immediate plans to marry or have children. 'We're happy as we are, and I feel really lucky.'

Like Polly, she's certain she's in the right job. 'Acting is the one "through" thing in my life. When I was at school I went to Anna Scher's drama classes, and she taught us that if we became actors we should expect to be out of work a lot of the time. But, even if I was out of work for the rest of my life, I'd still think of myself as an actress.'

She enrolled at college to study drama, only to be offered a part as the girlfriend in "Tucker's Luck", the children's series which spun off from "Grange Hill" and in which Todd Carty starred. 'I'd been in love with Todd on the screen for years, so I said "yes". I finished that job on a Friday and began in the BBC series "Big Deal" on the following Monday. That lasted three years, so I never got to go to college.'

Parts in "Rockliffe's Babies", "Saracen" and several stage productions followed. Then for four series of the sitcom "Desmond's" Lisa played a friend of the family. She was thrilled when the role in "The Bill" came up. But the early days were tinged with sadness. In fact, she even missed her first day. 'My dad suffered a heart attack and died just before I started. His funeral was held on the first day. It was a terrible shock for the family because he was only sixty-one. But at least all my worrying about being the new girl and getting things right went out of the window. Suddenly it wasn't a priority. I just knew I had to go on with my life, go to work and do my best.'

Geoghan, in contrast, has lived with her postman husband Michael Power for thirteen years, having first met him when they were at primary school together. Although the couple have very different careers, she insists her husband's colleagues do not think of her job as special. 'Michael doesn't take much notice of what I do,' she smiles. 'He gets a bit of stick from his mates, but only as much stick as he gives them about their girlfriends!'

Though content with her husband and home life, Geoghan defines herself primarily as an actress. At thirty-two she is in no hurry to have children, admitting, 'There is so much going on at the moment, we haven't got round to it yet, but I'm sure we will have kids one day. My brother's children have got me thinking about it.

Working on The Bill has made her more aware of the problems the police face in terms of dealing with difficult children in the community. In cases such as child drug abuse she takes a tough line, believing that parents should take more responsibility. 'The police are unfairly criticised for not doing their job properly. But parents need to be more clued up and shouldn't assume their kids are angels.'

Lisa was born in 1967. Along with Graham Cole (PC Tony Stamp), she is vice-president of the NHF (National Holiday Fund).