A LOCAL actress is living her dream after securing a role in TV soap Hollyoaks.

Sarah Barrett, whose stage name is Baxendale, made her debut appearance on the Channel 4 teen soap on Friday and will now be a regular face on the programme.

Sarah, of Coach Road in Astley, landed the part of Ellie Hunter -- the long-lost member of the Hunter family -- after five long auditions and began filming in Liverpool in January.

Now 23 she has had a keen interest in acting since playing the leads in school plays at Garrett Hall Primary School in Tyldesley and at St Mary's RC High School. Her ambition then took her to the Rose Bruford School of Acting in London, where she spent three years on an actors and musicians degree course.

In addition to touring schools with various theatres Sarah has had a small part in Fat Friends, appeared in an episode of Doctors and had a part in a Julie Walters two-part drama My Beautiful Son. This is her first big break and something she has dreamed about for years.

She joins Leigh actress Sarah Dunn who is a long-standing member of the cast.