HER elongated purr of 'Ooooooh Rene' became an iconic catchphrase in British comedy.And having reprised her role as Yvette Carte Blanche for the stage version of Allo Allo, Vicki Michelle will be telling tales of the Fallen Madonna at Lowestoft's Marina Theatre from Monday.

HER elongated purr of 'Ooooooh Rene' became an iconic catchphrase in British comedy.

And having reprised her role as Yvette Carte Blanche for the stage version of Allo Allo, Vicki Michelle will be telling tales of the Fallen Madonna at Lowestoft's Marina Theatre from Monday.

The national tour will stop in the town for six days until Saturday, March 14 and Vicki's love-interest, the delectable Rene Artois will be played by Jeffery Holland of Hi-De-Hi fame.

For Vicki, the chance to come to Lowestoft is something of a homecoming after filming the show in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Allo Allo ran for 10 years and was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 80s. As only six to eight episodes were made per year the show was regularly taken onto stages across the world.

More than a decade after the tour ceased, Vicki has been convinced to take on the role of the flirty waitress again by original writer David Croft, who has teamed up with playwright Jimmy Perry to produce a new UK show.

David and Jimmy were both responsible for the stage adaptation of Dads Army, which played at the Marina Theatre last year.

She told The Journal: 'When they first asked me to do it they said come and see Dads Army. They did such a brilliant job, so I decided to go for it. Jeffery Holland who is playing Rene is also brilliant. Gordon (Kaye) could do a deadpan face really well and so can Jeffery, the audiences love him. The fallen Madonna's in there with all the catchphrases and a couple of new add ins, which are funny.

'So far people have been so complementary, they say things like 'it's lovely to see you' and I sometimes get a round of applause when I come on, but I am Yvette and I find it very easy to get back into that character. We've got lots of youngsters coming to watch it as well. The rude jokes are over their heads and the double entendres, but they laugh because their parents are laughing. It's great to have a new generation watching it.'

She revealed she wasn't originally given a catchphrase, but decided to invent one, which somehow stuck.

'I asked David if I could have a catchphrase and he said 'no Vicki, we've got enough' so when I used to say 'Oooh Rene' I used to make more of it and he used to raise a smile at me. He did that if he thought you'd worked at something, so he let me have it.

'Yvette is very warm and she's very patriotic to the resistance. It was a joy to be involved with and to have the French accent was great, it's a sexy language. I loved her character, she would sit on men's laps and flirt with them, which is something I would never do in real life.'

Despite the show finishing its television run in 1992 Vicki said the cast still socialise regularly. 'We were working together for 10 years, we were like a big family, we've all got each others interests at heart,' she said.

Aside from her theatre work, where she has played the likes of Miss Hannigan in Annie, Vicki has recently appeared on Celebrity Masterchef, Cash in the Attic and as Patricia Foster in Emmerdale, which she is expected to return to as a semi regular.

Vicki said she was really looking forward to coming to Lowestoft 'We filmed a lot at Swaffham and when we did the leapfrogging, that was on Cromer beach. My neighbour's also got a house in Southwold, I've been there before and I thought it was absolutely lovely.'