WHEN actress Jane Horrocks was chosen for her role in Absolutely Fabulous she looked to her five-year-old neice for inspiration -- and Bubble was born!

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph can today reveal that the character of secretary for the owner of a successful PR company was based on Elizabeth Horrocks, whose mannerisms and childlike innocence became famous around the world.

Elizabeth, of Alexandria Street, Rawtenstall, is only now old enough to watch the hit sitcom, featuring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley.

To get into the role of such a childlike character, Jane looked to her family and found her young niece.

When the show first aired in November 1992 it was an instant hit and turned Jane into a household name. For six years over three series, the dippy Bubble was cherished by millions. And it was all down to Elizabeth.

"I think it's great and Jane is a brilliant auntie," said Elizabeth. "She is really funny and when I'm older I'll tell everyone it was me."

"Usually most of my characters are an amalgamation of different people not one special person," Jane told the Lancashire Evening telegraph. "But Bubble was based on Elizabeth, who was five at the time."

Elizabeth is now 10 and she watches videos taped by her mum Deborah and loves being the star of the show.

Mum Deborah was a huge fan of the popular comedy and could see straight away the likeness.

"You can see Elizabeth's mannerisms when Jane does Bubble and she captures her childlike innocence," she said. "Jane told us later that Elizabeth was the inspiration for Bubble and we thought it was great. It was very, very funny."

Although the direct inspiration for the character, St Paul's Constablelee pupil Elizabeth is a bigger fan of her auntie's more recent work.

"Elizabeth loves the Tesco adverts and one of her favourite films was Chicken Run where Jane did the voice-over for Babs," said Deborah, who with husband Allister count themselves as huge fans of Jane. "But she loves being Bubble. It is a huge compliment and we are all very proud."

See a full interview with Jane Horrocks in tomorrow's Lancashire Evening Telegraph.