Teletext.co.uk - Week of 15TH July 2002 (Thanks Nat for sending me this!)
New London's Burning star Liza Walker couldn't believe it when both her parents were involved in blazes during her first week of filming ITV1's drama.
Liza, 30, who plays fireman's wife Shauna Callaghan says: "It was unbelievable. My mum Desirie, who's in Provence, rang to tell me her house was on fire as the chimney breast had caught alight.
"Then when I rang my Dad Johnny at his office he was evacuated as the building was on fire!"
Liza did in-depth research to play her character, a manic depressive. As the wife of new station officer Mick Callaghan (Anthony Green), she can't cope mentally with her demanding life as a wife and mum of a young child.
She says: "I have a friend who has manic depression and it is a little-understood condition. People think you are mad but it's really too much is going on in their brains."
Liza hopes that her portrayal will help people to understand the nature of the illness.
She says: "I hope people will learn more about it. The worst thing is that charities such as Mind and Mencap don't have much info about it.
"I have a friend with manic depression and I support her. There is no outright cure but people take medication to correct the imbalance of chemicals in their brains."
Shauna's manic depression manifests itself in strange ways.
Says Lisa: "At one stage she turns up at the fire station in a seven-year-old's Spider-Man pyjamas.
"Most of the time sufferers are on top of it, but deep down there is a lot of insecurity.
"Women can become sexually uninhibited, it is the paranoia of not feeling loved. That's why Shauna has a fling with fireman Frank Mooney (Tristan Gemmill)."
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Liza Walker had an embarrassing encounter with a male stripper while making London's Burning.
Her character Shauna was at a hen night and she says: "I had to cover his rude bits with my head when he whipped off his pouch so that viewers didn't see anything. Unfortunately I got a close up. It was embarrassing.
"Thankfully, I only had to do one take when we filmed the scenes in a bar. He was a proper stripper with a good body but he did nothing for me."
In real life Liza Walker is looking forward to getting married in September to musician fiance Donnie at Little Missenden, Berks.
Sporting a huge garnet engagement ring, she says: "We fell for each other at a party and his son Jackson, four, is going to be best man. I am trying to talk my Dad Johnny into getting Elvis lookalikes to serve at the reception.
"But there definitely won't be any male strippers at my hen night!"
It's Liza's TV return after several years making films and appearing on stage.
She first shot to fame at 15 in the movie The Mad Monkey with Jeff Goldblum and in the early '90s she starred in the C4 comedy Teenage Health Freak.
She was also in the film Buddy's Song with ex-boyfriend Chesney Hawkes, the movies The Jungle Book and Hackers, and she starred as a stripper in the West End play Closer.
In this week's episode Liza, as Shauna, reveals she hasn't had sex with husband Mick for 18 months.
She confides this to firefighter Sally, who has the hots for Mick, but does not want to come between husband and wife.
Instead Sally goes to bed with lusty colleague Frank after they complete a daring rescue - but they are caught in the act by the new fire station cook Lisa.