Chicago has been at the West End for four years

Van Outen won plaudits for her run in the same role in the Broadway production of the high-kicking stage show.

Now she is back home for a second stint at the Adelphi Theatre, having revealed she fought homesickness with tea and biscuits imported to New York by friends.

The former Big Breakfast presenter made her West End debut in the Bob Fosse musical last year and will complete a five-week run.

Despite being a celebrity on British TV, she was a complete unknown in America before her run.

She said she always wanted to be a "Broadway babe".

Public break-up

Chicago has been running for more than four years and won a Laurence Olivier award for outstanding musical production.

Van Outen started her TV career doing traffic and weather on the Big Breakfast but soon ended up fronting it with Johnny Vaughan.

She left the show in 1999 but was persuaded to return in an ill-fated attempt to boost audience numbers.

After again leaving the show, she went through a very public break-up from Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay last year.