Julie Goodyear

Actress Julie Goodyear is castaway by Kirsty Young.

For a quarter of a century, Julie's Coronation Street TV character Bet Lynch set the gold plated standard for big, brassy, back chatting blondes. Behind the bar of the Rovers Return her bosom swathed in leopard-print and her head piled high with platinum curls she was Manchester's answer to Mae West.

Her MBE was awarded for her services to drama - and when she left the series in 1995, her departure pulled in 19 million viewers.

Yet whatever the scriptwriters came up with it was never as dramatic as the life she's lived beyond The Street.

Julie got pregnant at 17, her second husband abandoned her for their best man, and in 1979 she was diagnosed with cancer and told she'd a year to live. She's now married to her fourth husband.

She says, "If anyone should be interested in an epitaph for my life, I would like them to consider, 'At least she tried."

DISC ONE: Nancy Sinatra - These Boots are Made for Walkin’
DISC TWO: Eileen Wilson - A You're Adorable
DISC THREE: Nat King Cole - Blue Moon
DISC FOUR: Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around The Clock
DISC FIVE: Barry Manilow - I made it through the Rain
DISC SIX: Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born
DISC SEVEN: Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time Of My Life
DISC EIGHT: Tina Turner - Simply the Best

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time Of My Life
BOOK CHOICE: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
LUXURY CHOICE: Her mother's bus pass

Producer: Cathy Drysdale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2013.