LANDING a plum role in the TV crime hit Prime Suspect was a dream come true for former Brookside star John McArdle.

For the East Lancashire-based actor got to work with one of his favourite actresses, Helen Mirren, and even got to do a love scene with her.

John plays DCS Ballinger, Jane Tennison's boss in the new two-parter which revolves around drugs gangs in Manchester.

But the pair become romantically entangled, adding to the stress of Tennison's already complicated life. "The scenes are more suggestive than explicit," John hastens to point out.

John is happily married to actress wife Kathy Jamieson and the couple live in Cliviger with their daughter Katie,14 and son Joseph, five.

But Prime Suspect V took its toll of the 45-year-old actor who had a suspected heart attack which turned out to be exhaustion just after completing filming. John's father died suddenly of a heart attack aged 48 so he now keeps in shape by jogging, not drinking or smoking and eating healthily.

His new-found fitness came in handy for a new series in which he plays a marathon runner.

The series, Born To Run, by Making Out writer Debbie Horsfield is a black comedy about the trials and tribulations of a family in Wilmslow, Cheshire, also starring Keith Allen and Billie Whitelaw.

John added: "I've had the chance to do love scenes with both Helen Mirren and Billie Whitelaw, so I've fulfilled my ambitions in one year!"

Liverpool-bred John admits that he is unlikely to make a return to Brookside as Billy Corkhill, describing his role as "dead and buried" but he is grateful for the five years he spent there.

"I wouldn't go back because it would be taking a step back," he says. "I learned a lot from it but you have to move on, though I still watch it."

Prime Suspect, originally created by Lynda La Plante, has gained an unrivalled reputation over its previous four series and has won more than 22 awards, including the Best Actress BAFTA Award three years running for Mirren.

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