AN UP-AND-COMING actor from Walthamstow is to fulfil a life-long ambition when she appears in ITV show The Bill tonight.

Susie Hooper, 38, can seen playing a ‘hungry uptight reporter’ in the long-running police drama series.

It is her first television appearance, having recently graduated from the Mounview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Ms Hooper said: “I was so excited, I’ve always wanted to be on The Bill. Every actor seems to do it"

The aspiring actress has done a wide range of jobs over the last few years, in between securing roles and meeting casting directors.

She says she can still recall the exact moment when, at the age of nine, she decided that acting was her calling in life.

Ms Hooper described her day spent on the set of the popular programme as a “brilliant experience” from which she learned a great deal.

She also said how thankful she was for her current employer being so understanding by allowing her time off to attend casting sessions and auditions.

Having recently sent out some 200 copies of her CV she is hoping that this latest high-profile part will help her take her career to new heights.

Ms Hooper made her debut in the West End last summer with the lead role in The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre.