And her journey away from home leads her straight to the Crossroads Motel.  Arriving there, without much to her name and looking totally lost, despite all her bravado, she falls into the compassionate hands of Jane Smith.  Not only does Jane find her a bed at the Salvation Army hostel, but she arranges that Sandy Richardson gives her a job, first as washer up and then as a fully fledged waitress.

 

All of which helps the youngster for a while, but it isn't long before there's more trouble for her to face.  First of all she's accused, wrongly as it turns out, of stealing Mrs Witton's valuable ring, but that's only the beginning.  "I don't know why it is," says Lynette, "but she decides just to take off again and before she knows what's happening she's ended up in hospital.  Somewhere along the way when she's hitch-hiking she gets beaten up and when she's lying in bed the truth about her comes out.  How she's not seventeen, which is what she claimed, and how, really, her whole life is just a dream."

 

Everyone who has been enjoying Lynette's role as Glenda will know just how much like the dreamy runaway she really does seem on the screen, but like all the Crossroads cast, Lynette's own life has little in common with the character she plays.  While she may indeed be only a few years older herself than Glenda, she's hardly a dreamy runaway.

 

"I first went to Drama School - the Arts Educational College in London - when I was twelve and stayed there until I was eighteen.  Since then I've been around the reps like everyone else and then I went to Chichester for a Christmas show; someone else couldn't go, so I was asked along.  I've also been to Hong Kong where I was a stage dresser some of the time and also played little parts like nuns and flower sellers.