Anna Friel stars in next week’s The Street (BBC One, Monday, 20 July, 9pm) which will thrill fans of hers no end. For admirers of her physically, you will no doubt be titillated at the news that she will be playing Dee, who just so happens to have a job that requires her to wear stockings and suspenders and all that. Naturally, this being Jimmy McGovern, it’s not going to be some tit-fest, but rather, a gritty Lady Madonna story about making ends meet.

Related: The Street Series Three Episode One

Friel’s character is a mother who would do anything for her two young sons. One of them is being so badly bullied at his rough school that he wets the bed at night. So Dee decides to move into the catchment area of a better school. But the move increases her mortgage to such an extent that she is forced to subsidise her earnings from her day job in a DIY store. What does she do to raise extra cash? She works weekends in a sauna in Bolton.

I’m from near Bolton so no jokes, right?

There, she meets Mark, a lovely bloke and single dad who comes to mend her boiler, and they soon start dating. Can Dee keep her double life under wraps and hold onto this very nice chap or will her secret slip out and destroy everything?

It’ll be nice to see Friel in a good, gritty Northern drama again after all those Hollywood years. It’ll be nice to remember what a good actress she is. There’s a good chance that this will be the best thing on all next week… so make sure you tune in.