A TEENAGE dancer from Clayton-le-Moors is on her her way to the final stages of a talent competition after beating off stiff competition from thousands of show biz hopefuls.

When Deborah Clarke, 19, from Whalley Road, saw the advertisement looking for young people to take part in the Thames TV Pop Idols competition in the News of the World newspaper, she was inspired to apply.

But Deborah was not the only one to test her luck and last month, 10,000 youngsters between the ages of 16 and 26 spent a day auditioning at venues in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

The dancers endured two testing auditions at Century House conference rooms, Manchester, first with Thames TV producers and then with four judges from the music industry.

But the seven hours of worry was worth the wait, when the young dancer found out she had made it through to the final stages, to be held in London some time next week, with 99 others.

If Deborah makes the final hurdle, she will find herself on TV with 50 other contestants for a series of weekly shows on ITV, to be screened at a date to be fixed next year.

Deborah, who has been making a living as a part-time dancer in the North West, is confident she will go all the way, with the dazzling prospect of a lucrative RCA recording deal and management by Niki Chapman.

And she has no doubts about her future in show business: "I will definitely be a major singer and in 10 year's time, I will be bigger than Madonna.

"But in the mean time, I am practising my singing and dancing and it can be hard work, even though it is a labour of love. I was absolutely delighted to be chosen and I can hardly wait to get cracking."