SEXING UP OF BILL COP JUNE (11/8/04)

From The Sun newspaper.

TELLY cop Sgt June Ackland has turned into The Bill's resident sex kitten – and at 52 actress Trudie Goodwin could not be more pleased.

The stunning mum-of-two is getting more love action on screen than all the soap's young girls.

And next week she turns up to her wedding to DC Jim Carver and discovers she has not only slept with the groom - but his two best men as well.

Trudie says: "I love being an older sex symbol. Yes, that's fine by me.

"My kids don't like it but I do."

In the past year Sgt June has bedded evil copper Gabriel Kent and PC Tony Stamp as well as her future hubby Jim.

Trudie says: "I can give the younger girls a run for their money.

"I'm thrilled. I think it's great that all this is happening to a slightly older woman.

"I looked at a picture of Sharon Stone today and she looks fantastic.

"When you turn 40 there is a bit of a mental block. But 40 is the new 30.

"Everything is ten years back. You can look better than you used to, people eat better and look after themselves more."

Trudie adds: "We do have some beautiful girls here and I don't blame them for showing off their bodies. It's fine, that's the way it is now.

"But I won't be doing any bikini shoots in any lads' mags."

June and Jim - played by Mark Wingett - will wed in the August 18 episode after an on-off romance lasting more than 20 years.

But on the day of the ceremony, she shares a snog with Gabriel after he turns up at her home.

And even worse, when panicking June turns up late at the register office, she finds Gabriel standing in for Jim's best man, Tony Stamp - who she has also bedded.

However, Tony (Graham Cole) then returns from his emergency call and June poses for pictures with all three blokes.

Trudie says: "It suddenly dawned on me that June has slept with all three of them. Who knew she was such a hussy?

"The wedding doesn't go as planned and all doesn't go well with the marriage, so no surprises there."

Recently Trudie felt her character was "stagnant" and asked the programme's bosses to give her some meatier storylines.

This resulted in June being given one of the most controversial and gritty plots of the year when she bedded sick PC Gabriel Kent, played by former EastEnders star Todd Carty - and he told her he was her long-lost son.

But it turned out he was playing wicked mind games with her.

Trudie found she had problems with the fake incest storyline, before being reassured about how it would end.

She says: "I would have been unhappy with that. I would have found it difficult. When I initially heard about it, I must admit I thought, 'I'm going to have to go and talk to someone about it.'

"But in fact I was told quite early on what the true storyline was.

"It was very interesting stuff to do, especially with Todd. He is playing very much against his EastEnders character, so it was good for both of us. We both showed something very different.

"The headlines about it didn't bother me too much because that gets people watching. It certainly generated a huge amount of interest.

"I didn't get any letters against it, which I really thought I would. Now all I get are letters pleading, 'When are Jim and June going to get married?' It's all everyone asks me.

"But people do come up to me on the street and say, 'Stay away from that nasty Gabriel, he's evil.'"

Trudie was in the show when it started in 1983 and admits: "Twenty years is a long time to stay in a show. I don't know what the future holds. I kind of go with the flow, I always have.

"I've always said that I hope I'll know when it's the right time to leave - sometime before I'm carried off with my zimmer frame.

But Trudie does NOT want June to be killed off when she goes.

She says: "I would like to leave her happy but somehow I don't think they're going to let me do that. I'd like June to lay off toyboys and love. I'd like her to get back to a bit of cops and robbers, back to the beat."

But long before any of that happens, June will be heading up the aisle with Jim.

The new story is a million miles away from Trudie's personal life.

She has been happily married to fellow actor Kit for 25 years, with whom she has two daughters - Jessica, 21, and 16-year-old Eleanor.

They squirm when they see Mum snogging other men on the telly, so will probably want to look away when the rest of the nation are glued to their screens on August 18.