We’ve seen actress Claire Sweeney in various guises – as Brookside’s troublemaking Lindsey Corkhill, as the chatty girl-next-door on the Loose Women panel and in fine voice in a whole host of West End musicals.

But the closest we’ve seen Claire come to risque was when she won Rear Of The Year in 2001.

Well now she’s letting all of the skeletons come tumbling out of the closet in a new musical comedy about sex and dating disasters which she’s co-written based on some of her own experiences, Sex In Suburbia.

A new mum to son, Jaxon, born last year, Claire is now on the road with the production which hits Tunbridge Wells this month before returning to Bromley in May.

So what prompted the actress, singer and presenter to fess up now?

“I was doing a one woman show called Tell Me On A Sunday, which is about a woman looking for love in all the wrong places and it was kind of a mirror image of my life at the time,” remembers Claire, 43.

“My producer said to me, ‘Claire, you’ve got to start writing these stories down, this is absolutely hysterical the stuff that’s happening to you’. So I did start writing it down and from there we got a show.”

It’s a brave step from chatting with your mates to sharing your intimate experiences with anyone in the country who buys a ticket to your show, though.

“I know!” agrees Claire. “But it’s not just my stories, there’s lots of my friends’ stories as well. A lot of my stories aren’t in the final show; some of them are but we just went for the most entertaining and the ones that worked best with the audience.”

Was it a case of having to sit her mum down and explain what she had in mind?

“Ah, I just got on with it, mum’s not a prude,” says independent Claire, who plays herself appearing as a celebrity guest at the fictional radio station where the action is set.

Co-written by Claire and her friend Mandy Muden, it tells of Penny Crowe, who is the host of the station’s late-night phone-in. As Britain’s leading Agony Aunt, she takes calls about every date from hell and the occasional one from heaven and is more than happy to dish out relationship advice; but whether she as happy to take it remains to be seen.

Claire wasn’t tempted to seek out input for the show from a real relationship coach as it is all played for laughs.

“No, I haven’t been to any real relationship experts, most of the show is fun and humorous. There’s a lot of truth in there and then we did add entertainment on top of that,” she says.

And, as you’d expect from the woman who played Roxie Hart in the West End production of Chicago among many other musical roles, there are some big belting numbers as well, including I’m Every Woman and I Want To Break Free.

“Yes, absolutely!” enthuses Claire. “My favourite big number is Somebody Else’s Guy; it’s slightly shoehorned in but I just put it in because I love it.”

For Claire it’s always been the stage first. “I love theatre, absolutely just love the live vibe.”

Sex in Suburbia is at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells on Saturday, April 18. Tickets cost £22.50. Visit www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk or call 01892 530613.

Sex in Suburbia’s final local stop is at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre on Saturday, May 9. Visit www.atgtickets.com/bromley