Actress enjoying fame as Fred Elliott's Thai bride

She is the conwoman Stacey posing as a Thai bride to seduce butcher Fred Elliott out of his hard-earned cash on Coronation Street.

Orchid Pattaya has only been in The Street for a week or two, and already her shy conversations with "Fled" have brought her national acclaim.

"It's just been mad!" said Casey, with a huge laugh that would have brought frowns of disapproval for any real Thai bride.

We are talking at her mother Maureen's Sharples' home. Casey is now married and living in Prestwich with her huband, a property businessman, but she spent all her childhood in the Bolton area, although the accent is long gone.

In Bolton, she was the disco dancing diva who found fame at around the age of seven, when a switch from gymnastics to dancing paid off in competition wins.

She competed successfully nationally, and even internationally, and appeared on TV's popular "Saturday Superstore" - which is where Peter Kay comes in.

"He must have seen me then dancing to the Toni Basil hit 'Hey Mickey', and when I got the part in Corrie, he rang up the director and told him to make me perform it!" she said, laughing again. "He didn't, but I brought in a tape of it and everyone had a good giggle!"

That programme led Casey to roles on stage and TV. She was in "Miss Saigon" and "Starlight Express", and children's TV including the drama series "Grooey".

For the past three years, she has been Jenny in "Beachcomber Bay", playing alongside puppets like Sam the Seagull and Bertha the Cat. "Educational stuff with a moral message, and great fun," she says.

Casey gets her exotic looks from her mum, Maureen, aged 58, but young looking enough to be her sister - who is from Singapore.

Casey's big break on Coronation Street, though, came quite by chance - although Casey firmly believes "it was fate."

"We go back to Singapore regularly because my grandmother is 91 and we like to see her," says Casey.

"When I was going there earlier this year, I decided to also go over to Thailand on holiday and had a great stay in Phuket. When I got off the plane in Manchester, the first thing I saw was this huge poster of the Rover's Return.

"So when my agent rang me two days later to say there was a casting in Coronation Street for an Oriental girl, I couldn't believe it."

Luckily for Casey, she had already experienced the constantly smiling, keen-to-please Thai people at first hand. But when she read the script, she was unsure right up to to the last minute how to play Orchid.

"Then it just came to me. So I went in and read for it. It all seemed very natural," she adds. At the casting recall, she really didn't think she would get the part "because so many of the girls were much more Oriental looking than me."

But, Casey's Bolton background gave her a great edge: she could turn on the accent better than anyone else.

"I think that had been a problem for them because it is two characters rather than one, and they wanted me to speak really broad Lancashire." A long-time fan of the programme, Casey was nervous on the first day of filming. But fellow cast members helped her overcome it. They came up to me and said 'hello' straight away, which was nice. And John Savident (Fred Elliott) has been great to work with. He's a real professional."

She has also been quite surprised at the way her character has quickly become a part of The Street.

"I was leaving the set right at the start of filming and I saw this big crowd of fans and reporters waiting at the gate, so I thought 'someone famous must be coming out'. But they were waiting for me!"

Already, Casey's pretty face and slim size 8 figure have attracted attention from national newspapers and magazines who want to know the secret of her enviably trim shape.

"I haven't got one,!" she says with a grin. "I eat what I like but in moderation, and if I want fish and chips I'll have it."

She tries to go to the gym a couple of times a week, but finds that filming sometimes curtails that.

Casey is a keen shopping fan, however, ("especially handbags and shoes") and her eye to current fashion is evident in her layered Chloe-style pink chiffon top, trendy jeans and diamante stiletto sandals.

"I've had some lovely letters from people already," she states. "They seem to like Orchid - some of them still want me to marry Fred and settle down in The Street! But I'm not sure about that, I think she wants someone younger."

What is certain is that Casey can't go down any street in Manchester or Bolton without someone now shouting out "All right, Our Kid".

"It's lovely - I'm really enjoying it all," confesses Casey.

But will there be high-profile life after Fred discovers the expected "sting", and wants Orchid out of his life?

"Well, I have been approached by several people about roles in other well-known programmes, but I'd rather not say what they are just yet," she says, with a coy batting of eyelashes which owes much to Orchid.

"And the Coronation Street producers have said they are very pleased with the role, and will be leaving the door open for me. So, who knows?"

One thing is certain, however, whether Orchid/Stacey ever gets together with "Fled", and whatever happens next, Casey Lee Jolleys has just stepped into the big time.