SHE began her career as a prostitute, before joining the police and working her way up to the post of acting detective inspector.

Now she's an alcoholic sex maniac who chases after men young enough to date her 14-year-old daughter.

Geordie actress Libby Davison, 38, has had her fair share of talked-about roles but her latest, in Bolton Octagon's Cooking With Elvis, is likely to be her most provocative yet.

Promising an outrageous mixture of sex, food and rock 'n' roll, the comedy is scripted by Lee Hall, the man behind smash-hit film Billy Elliot and, importantly for Libby, a fellow Geordie.

She said: "It's a real Geordie production, with two other actors from Newcastle besides myself involved. Everyone's really perfectly cast and we're having a lot of fun."

Libby's strong Northern accent has led to a few difficulties with her career in the past.

"The industry is getting much better about casting people with regional accents," she said. "There was a time I felt a bit frustrated because they only seemed to come up to Newcastle to cast the little parts, after everything else had been cast in London. But I still think there should be more regional accents on TV. Not everyone talks with plums in their mouths."

Having spent nearly four years working on Cockney soap The Bill, playing PC Liz Rawton, Libby knows what its like to be in a minority as far as her accent is concerned.

But she couldn't have enjoyed her stint in the ITV soap more.

"It was a huge decision for me to go away. I rented a flat down in London and travelled back to see my family every week. But the cast was lovely and I had some really good scripts."

Libby's initiation into her role as a strong, single-minded PC was a little unlikely to say the least.

She explained: "I spent quite a bit of my career just playing tarts -- I'm not sure why! That was how I landed the job in The Bill. I got a job as a prostitute on the show and six months later I was back as a copper."

However, Liz's career has involved a variety of other roles too.

In the BBC children's soap Byker Grove she played the embarrassing aerobics teacher mum of one of the youth club members, while she's also performed in a number of theatrical roles, including Secret Heart at the Manchester Royal Exchange.

This has stood her in good stead as the cringe-inducing Mam in Cooking With Elvis.

She said: "My character always goes after younger men to make her feel better. She's a bit worried about getting old and tries to look younger than she is. Her teenage daughter is very embarrassed by her, but she doesn't care.

"She wears all these inappropriate clothes and has a great time. I love playing her!"

Cooking With Elvis is at Bolton's Octagon Theatre until October 18.