LOOKING at Juliette Kaplan and her most famous character, the sour-faced Pearl from Last of the Summer Wine, you would be hard pushed to tell they were one and the same.

But after 20 years of playing the character, Kaplan is worried the sharp contrast between the two may have blurred.

"When I started playing this part it used to take me an hour-and-a-half to turn into Pearl and 20 minutes to get ready to go out," she said.

"Now it takes me 20 minutes to turn into Pearl and an hour-and-a-half to go out."

This transformation is how Kaplan's show Just Pearl begins, as she shows the audience how she does her make-up to become Pearl, and then has the character carry on with the show.

It's fitting that Pearl should have found her way back to the stage, because this is how she first became a part of Last of the Summer Wine.

The TV series had already been running for 10 years when Kaplan got the part of Pearl in a stage show version in Bournemouth.

The 1984 show had all the stalwarts of the TV series, but it was the first appearance of Pearl, her hen-pecked husband Howard and his mistress. "the trollope" Marina.

"I was a bit nervous about the part because Bournemouth is my home town and Pearl is my mother's name," said Kaplan.

Following the success of the character, Pearl crossed over to the TV series, initially for one scene of one episode, but the writers found the character and the septuagenarian love-triangle impossible to resist.

"Pearl began as a nervous woman but she grew a lot more confident and sarcastic," said Kaplan.

"I don't know if that was the writers, the directors, me or just a natural evolution.

"The character isn't really based on anyone in particular. When the writing is that good you don't need to look much further than the script."

Just Pearl began life when Kaplan was working on cruises giving talks about the character and the show. One of the audience's favourite parts was watching the make-up transformation into Pearl and the idea for a stage show was formed.

It took shape when Kaplan got in touch with Last of the Summer Wine creator Roy Clarke and asked him to write the show, which hit the road in its current form earlier this year.

Just Pearl, which features a post-show chat, is at the Swan Theatre tomorrow at 7.30pm. Tickets are £13.50 from the box office on 01905 611427.