EAST Lancashire's youngest television star is about to make her soap debut.

Libby Thomas, who will four weeks old tomorrow, has already been in show business for half her young life.

She started filming for Channel 4's Hollyoaks aged just two weeks and is now the soap's newest star.

She was picked to be the latest addition to the cast because of a storyline featuring a premature baby.

And proud parents Duncan Thomas and Claire Astley revealed she may have a future in the business after directors dubbed her "a natural".

Libby will play the premature baby of Tony and Mandy Hutchinson in the soap. She will be part of the storyline which sees the panic of Mandy being induced for early labour.

Claire, 29, a sales assistant at Tesco, Clitheroe, was herself taken in to hospital to give birth two weeks early because of complications due to her diabetes.

Duncan, a self-employed landscape gardener, who works from home in Bolland Prospect, Clitheroe, said: "It is like her own start in life.

"She came early and so does Mandy's baby. Thankfully Claire and Libby were very well after the birth and Libby was not in an incubator.

"She has been called a natural. It sounds daft so young but she has been four times now and keeps doing everything right.

"The storyline is that Mandy suffers from post natal depression and she cannot bond with the baby. So when she was handed to her she had to cry. And when she was handed back to Tony she had to be quiet and she did it. It's obviously coincidence but it happened every time.

"Who knows what the future may hold for her. It's a great start to life. I am so proud of her first steps to fame. We obviously have to keep our feet on the ground but you never know, she may be in acting in the future."

The 44-year-old father of three boys had always wanted a girl and said it was the icing on the cake for her to be seen on television -- thanks to one of his boys, Adrian, 16 whose girlfriend Lauren has appeared in "Grange Hill" and heard about the part through her acting agency.

The family e-mailed pictures of Libby and were contacted almost immediately. They are now travelling to Liverpool for filming three times a week.

In the soap, Mandy gave birth last week but she will not look at her daughter, who is fighting for her life, because she is scared of bonding with her after the death of her parents.

Libby will make her debut on December 16 at 6.30pm.