ALISON was born in Liverpool's Oxford Street Hospital and grew up in Anfield, where the nearest she got to acting was dancing classes and living room impressions of comedienne Hylda Baker.
But joining a youth theatre when she was 15 lit the flame of her acting ambitions. Her dad, who worked for an engineering firm, wanted her to take secretarial qualifications to fall back on, so after leaving school she went to work in a probation office.
But, feeling frustrated at 20 and encouraged by the late Tony Colgate, then a young director at the Liverpool Playhouse, she sneaked off to London to audition for the East 15 Acting School. The audition report said "Worth training, will blossom."
And she did, not least because she met Mike Leigh there: "He came to direct and I loved the way he talked about the work." But they didn't become an item there and then.
Alison graduated and went off to do rep at Lincoln Theatre Royal, appearing alongside Vanessa Redgrave in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie before moving to the Liverpool Everyman, where Leigh came to see her in a play. This time they became a couple.
She played WPC Bayliss in legendary police saga Z Cars, took guest leads in BBC1's Play for Today and made a big impression as the delightful innocent Candice-Marie in Mike Leigh's first big hit, Nuts In May.
"That was in 1975 and yes, that's one of my favourites. That's another one that's out on video and it does quite well. People say to me 'Oh, I named my horse Candice-Marie', or their cat, but they usually name their pets after her, not their children," laughs Alison.
Two years later, Abigail's Party brought her the role of the monstrous Beverly, the Essex girl from Hell, which was such a huge hit it proved a hard act to follow:
"Years ago I would say 'Oh if only I could do something that would top Beverly'. People always wanted to talk about that, and it used to really get to me. Not that I wasn't proud of the job, but I suppose I just didn't realise the impact that that particular character had on everyone. So I was always thinking 'Oh this part now, this is the one to top her'.
"And then sure enough, I'd get in an interview and someone would say 'Well, back to Abigail's Party again'. It took me years to suddenly think 'Why don't I just accept this, and actually embrace it and enjoy it rather than fight against it'.
