ACTORS and journalists may have a love-hate relationship but Tracie Bennett has sat on both sides of the fence.

The former Coronation Street star knows what the thrill of the chase is like as her stint as a showbiz reporter testifies.

But now she's preparing to play Ida in Honk alongside Norman Pace and Clive Rowe and is looking forward to something light among the heavy duty stuff.

Tracie says: "I was a reporter for OK! magazine so don't get me wrong, I know it's just a job and the journalist just has to do his or her job. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I know what both sides of the fence are like.

"Now with the tabloids, though, you've got to be smart enough to play the game, because you're doing your job and they're doing theirs. I'm quite boring, so there's not much to get from me. Some of the horrible ones will try and come into nightclubs and sell you something while they've got a tape running. I just try to stay away from them."

Tracie last appeared as Sharon Gaskell in the top ITV soap in 1999 which regularly drew in more than 20m viewers.

"It does feel great when viewers say they remember who I played and how she related to their lives. To get an audience of about 22 million was just amazing.

"I would go back today if I was asked, but people who are still on the Street move on and so do you, so it's not the easiest thing to go back and slot in straight away. You can't bulldoze in."

Honk is based on the Hans Christian Andersen classic The Ugly Duckling and Tracie felt drawn to its universal themes.

"I went to meet the writers and Julia (Julia McKenzie is the director) and felt there was a wonderful innocence about what they were proposing. They really believed in what they wanted to do and that really appealed to me.

"I don't want to do shallow stuff. I want to reach people in the audience and want something that has a universal message and communicate to them."

Tracie, who hails from Lancashire, won an Olivier award for Best Supporting Performance in a musical in 1995 for She Loves Me.

Alongside her varied theatre work, she has also had TV appearances in Heartbeat, Casualty, The Ambassador and The Upper Hand.

At school, Tracie says she was an inquisitive child but her teachers always gave her the support to reach her goals.

"When I was a kid, my mum used to say, 'You're a bit too curious and you're going to get on people's nerves if you keep asking all of these questions'. I did feel quite lonely and wary of what I was saying after that."

She feels that everything seems fair game these days in the media and Honk does evoke themes that everybody is concerned about.

"There's so much instant communication through the media these days and everyone seems to know how to manipulate each other through TV and newspapers. This offered something away from that world.

"In the show, a cat kidnaps my child. I don't know exactly how that's going to feel because I don't have children myself. But I can relate to someone who's lost a child and had her grief aired on newspapers and TV.

"I can relate to the journalistic debauchery of having everything up front and out in the open."

So that's Tracie Bennett up close and personal. Just don't get too close.

Honk is at Wycombe Swan from July 17-22, call 01494 512000