BILL GIRL GETS THE BULLET (26/9/04)

From The Sunday People:

BILL star Vickie Gates is being axed from the show after just 18 months and says: "It's knocked me for six."

Vickie's character, Sun Hill receptionist Marilyn Chambers, will be killed off in a sensational storyline early next year.

The ITV cop show's bosses hope to boost ratings as Marilyn's affair with Reg Hollis - played by Jeff Stewart - hots up before her dramatic exit. But Vickie, 29, sobbed: "I'm so upset. I don't want to leave."

The brunette actress, who found fame as Brookside superbitch Leanne Powell, had just returned from holiday when producer Claire Philips gave her the shock news.

Vickie said: "Claire called me in and was asking me how my holiday had gone. I just said, 'Oh Claire, don't tell me you're going to give me the sack?'

"She said that unfortunately, come January, there won't be any Marilyn. I felt like a huge rug had been pulled from under my feet. I cried for hours and the first thing Claire did was reach for the tissue box."

The actress added: "I feel like I've just settled in but I know it's not personal. They have to go with ideas that will be ratings winners and I am thrilled to get such a great storyline.

"Trudie Goodwin (June Ackland) and Roberta Taylor (Gina Gold) have been brilliant. They've been giving me great advice."

Vickie was recruited for The Bill just months before Channel 4 axed Brookie.

She married long-term lover Kevin Lundon, 36, a data analyst, in February.

Vickie, who commutes to the Bill set from her Liverpool home, said: "At least we'll see more of each other."

IN OTHER NEWS...

Luke Hamill aka CAD Officer Dean McVerry has not had his contract renewed. The news hardly comes as a surprise, seeing as McVerry has had less screen time than the station coffee machine in the last year.