Elaine Lordan plays Lynne Hobbs in BBC One soap EastEnders

Ms Lordan, 36 - who plays Lynne Hobbs in the BBC One soap - and boyfriend Peter Manuel tried to convince police someone else had been driving the crashed car, St Albans Magistrates Court was told.

But Mr Manuel had actually been at the wheel, while the actress - whose own car was parked nearby - failed a breath test.

Ms Lordan, of Highbury, north London, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with excess alcohol.

Police approached the couple as they were standing next to a Renault Megane that had crashed into a central reservation on the A1 in Barnet, north London, in July 2001, the court heard.

The female said that her bag contained her scripts and that she was an actress - she said 'Do you not recognise me?' Pc McCarney

They told two officers that the driver had walked away and they had stopped to help.

But the officers did not believe the story because Ms Lordan was holding a large bag over her shoulder and Mr Manuel was carrying a fleece.

"I told them that I thought it was a bit strange that they were carrying several items if they had gone there to help," Pc McCarney said.

"The female said that her bag contained her scripts and that she was an actress. She said, 'Do you not recognise me?'"

One officer said Mr Manuel gave a false name but eventually admitted to driving the crashed car after police ran an ownership check and found the car's keys in his pocket.

He was "very, very near the legal drink drive limit, but not over it", the court heard.

'Tearful'

But Pc Worthington smelt alcohol on Ms Lordan's breath while writing down her name.

"I made a mistake. She leaned forward to correct me and I smelt intoxicating liquor on her breath," he said.

A breath test proved positive, he added.

When taken to the police station, she "smelt of intoxicating liquor" and looked "tearful and remorseful", the officer said.

Ms Lordan later told police she had gone to help her boyfriend after he had called her saying he had had an accident.

'Contaminated'

She accepted that she had been drinking: "We were drinking. Yes. Vodka. Four or five. Standard measures."

She was then asked whether she had drunk anything since the accident and, laughing, said: "A bottle of Night Nurse."

Asked whether she had anything else to say, Lordan replied that she was sorry.

Ms Lordan's solicitor, Nick Freeman, told the court the actress would argue she had not been properly interviewed by police, and that her breath test may have been contaminated by alcohol in her mouth.