Ex-Brookside star Anna Friel wants fans to 'forget' about her iconic lesbian kiss

dailystar.co.uk:

Brookside.The actress, who starred in telly drama Marcella and a string of films including Rogue Trader, Goal! and a Midsummer Night’s Dream, said her grandma hated her pre-watershed snog with Nicola Stephenson in the since axed Channel 4 soap.Anna, 45, said she has spent the best part of 30 years trying to live it down even though it helped land her a National Television Award and turned her a star.She told The Chap magazine: "I never want people to forget that I come from Rochdale, but I’d like them to forget I did Brookside."Looking back, all that controversy with Brookside was a good start, it made people know who I was but hopefully - and not just because I kissed a girl on telly - for all the right reasons."My grandma said she hated me kissing that girl."Now I hope you won’t be doing that anymore', she said 'None of that old nonsense'."My mum only said, 'I don’t really like that, Anna'.

My family were all cool though, really."I stayed with my mum and dad while filming and drove to Liverpool every day."They were very concerned that I kept two feet on the ground and stayed the same."I was lucky in that I had a strong Irish dad and a Yorkshire mum who kept me in check and stopped me misbehaving.’"Anna’s character Beth Jordache’s ground-breaking kiss was broadcast round the world - including in 76 countries where homosexuality was illegal - when it featured in the 2012 London Olympics’ opening ceremony.She has previously said she felt she was "defined by that kiss’" but "didn’t want to be".The TV star has featured in television and print advertising campaigns for various brands and appeared as a cover girl for numerous magazines.In 2010, she starred as a chess player in the music video for the Manic Street Preachers'.