Denise Welch on addiction, depression and being the 'Virgin Mary' to The 1975 fans

After four tumultuous decades in the spotlight, Denise Welch is known as many things - a well-travelled television personality, a (reformed) party animal, an outspoken Loose Woman, a rock-star mum, a survivor.

But speaking before rehearsals, in a dressing room above the intimate Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, the 65-year-old is focused on nailing her return to the persona with which she began her career - a theatre actress.

In the premiere of The Gap, by writer Jim Cartwright - known for the soulful and scruffy poetry of plays such as The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Road - she plays Corral, who relives her youth in Swinging '60s London.

"There are some lines that only Jim Cartwright would write," Welch says in mock despair.

"I'd say, 'Oh my God, Jim, I can't get that bloody line in my head because only you would write it!'

"He said to me, 'Would you have talked to William Shakespeare in this way":[]}