I LOVE funny women and therefore I adore my fellow Geordie girlfriends.

There’s something about the Newcastle sense of humour that makes me laugh more than anything else. That’s why I thought I’d talk a little about “my best friend” Donna Air, above.

Donna was only 12 when we met when filming Byker Grove many years ago. I was obviously considerably older and I took her under my wing as I did with Jill Halfpenny and, of course, Ant and Dec.

Donna Air was, and still is, a breath of fresh air (no pun intended). She’s beautiful, talented, slender, a great mum, very funny, stunning golden locks, probably a great singer, no doubt a brilliant dancer, a great understanding of music, a superb .... sorry, one of my friends has just told me she’s dating James Middleton and they may get married which will sort of mean a royal wedding to which, I’m sure, she will be inviting her oldest and closest friends!

Honestly, I had absolutely no idea!

But I have been meaning to call her for ages.