She can talk

IF there were an Olympic medal for talking, Alex Hall would deserve a place on the winners' podium. She is at the helm of the new BBC radio show, Late Night Yorkshire, which combines talk, phone-ins and music to provide company into the wee small hours for listeners as far afield as Scarborough and Sheffield.

The show is broadcast out of York across the region five days a week - entailing a daily commute for Alex from her home in Leeds. "The A64 is the place where I do my decision making," she says.

Listeners to Radio York will recognise Alex's name and voice as she has hosted most of the station's shows over the past two years, standing in when regular presenters were ill. This earned her the nickname of the Grim Reaper. "Until I got this regular show, whenever someone saw me at Radio York they'd ask: 'Oh, who's poorly?", says Alex, with a hearty laugh.

Indeed, Alex is a woman of many names. Emmerdale fans may know her as Jean Strickland, the headmistress who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in September. Alex played the role for three years, so you can imagine her displeasure when she watched the funeral scenes on telly only to find she'd been re-christened Barbara Ann at the graveside.

She still doesn't know how the mix-up happened, but sees the funny side now.

And she's also more relaxed about another name change - her own. Her real name is Patricia Fisher, but when she moved into broadcasting, she renamed herself Alex Hall.

Not a lot of people knew that... until Alex introduced herself during her debut on Late Night Yorkshire two weeks ago as Patricia Fisher "but you can call me Alex Hall".

The 52-year-old divorcee has two grown-up children - Nick, 28, and Holly, 20 - and has had as many careers as she has had names.

"I sold advertising space in newspapers for 12 years, I've been a dental nurse, a pharmaceutical dispenser and a store detective," she reels off, quick as a flash - so fast, in fact, I have to ask her to run through it all again so I can get it down in shorthand.

When she moves on to recounting the amusing stories about her time as a store detective - "I only did it for six weeks, I couldn't bear it" - I rest my pen, resigned to simply enjoying the tales, all told in a seductive Middlesbrough accent.

It was this natural gift of the gab, her bright and lively manner and her instinct for a good yarn that helped her win a rare career break into broadcasting as she approached 40.

She was spotted by a presenter for a commercial radio station in Cleveland who was directing the amateur dramatic show in which she was starring.

"He told me they'd just lost their phone-in presenter and said: 'You must be able to talk for England... do you fancy having a go?'" recalls Alex.

She did, and immediately she was sold on radio: "I just liked the feel of it." And today, despite an acting career which has led to appearances in Coronation Street, Spender and Byker Grove, radio remains her first love. She says she's hooked on the medium's intimacy, spontaneity and its ability to connect people and communities.

"I've been on air at pivotal times in life: the day of Hillsborough, when Diana died - I've been there and shared things with the them the audience."

What she likes best, she admits, is clicking with the listener; saying the things which they instinctively agree with, or wish they'd said themselves. And if she can make them laugh too, all the better.

"One night I said: 'Why are the people who go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire all so thick?'. Someone rang in to say they'd been thinking exactly that but never said it."

Not all callers are on her wavelength. The nature of the radio phone-in dictates that Alex has to give air time to people she'd rather not. "I am intolerant of intolerance. I try to reason with people now," she says.

But she's not one to bite her tongue. She recalls how she handled a call from one man who rang in and spoke unsympathetically about his daughter's eating disorder. "I told him it was no wonder she was ill with a father like him."

Then she tells the story of when a young pregnant woman rang in unsure whether to have an abortion.

After going through the pros and cons, the girl still couldn't decide, so Alex suggested tossing a coin for it. The girl agreed, so Alex flipped the coin. "She asked me: 'What side is it?'," recalls Alex. "I said to her: 'What side do you want it to be?' At that point she knew she wanted to keep it."

Her new show isn't a problem line - although she will talk to anybody about anything, she insists. So far, she's had guests offering advice on recruitment, talking about the advertising industry as well as those with unusual hobbies.

As for the music, expect to hear a mix of modern and oldies as well as some of Alex's favourites, such as songs from the shows.

But most of all, expect to hear lots of talk.

Alex Hall's Late Night Yorkshire, Radio York, 10pm-1am Monday to Friday.

Updated: 09:10 Tuesday, January 15, 2002