FRED Elliott's Thai bride knows more about Bolton than Bangkok.
Actress Casey Lee Jolleys is the lotus blossom from Little Lever who has captured Coronation Street butcher Fred's heart.
Unfortunately, far from being Orchid - a sweet, innocent Oriental female seeking a Western husband - she is Stacey, a conwoman with a Manchester market stall who is getting set to fleece the lovelorn businessman in a practised scam.
Casey Lee, aged 30, who now lives in Sharples, knows a thing or two about posing. She regularly hit the headlines in the Bolton Evening News throughout the 1980s for her disco dancing skills.
As a pupil at St Teresa's Primary School, she began taking dancing lessons to boost her gymnastics skills. But, she liked dancing so much that she concentrated on that instead.
She took local, regional, and national titles almost by the week, and became Europe's disco champion. Her smiling face and exotic looks are captured in a whole series of newspaper pictures - clad in sequined leg-warmers and brief glittery outfit, her long, dark curly hair held by a colourful headband. Even as a nine-year-old she had her sights set on a showbusiness career, and appeared on children's TV here and in Japan, landing a record deal at one stage.
As a teenager, she extended her talents to acting, first at the Octagon and then again in a children's TV series. Keeping her options open, she continued her winning ways in dance competitions, but in recent years added to her acting portfolio with TV roles.
This week, she appeared for the first time as the long-awaited Thai bride arranged for Fred by golfing buddy Dennis.
She created quite a sensation in the Rover's, introduced to all by the love-struck bachelor as "Orchid Pattaya from Thailand", but was quickly christened "Our Kid" by Kirk, Tyrone and pals.
Sadly for Fred, Orchid is definitely not all she seems and she has already reported to Dennis that her target is well and truly "'ooked" on her.
Viewers will have to wait to see how the sting unfolds, but for Casey Lee it is another episode in a glittering career.
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