BUBBLY Lorraine Gabriel is hoping to take the airwaves by storm with her own show after being plucked from hundreds of hopefuls to make the final of Radio Stars.

Lorraine, 35, from Latchford, spotted Century FM's appeal for presenters in the Warrington Guardian and decided to go for it.

And last Thursday she was short-listed out of 300 entries to the final eight and will be put through her paces by staff at the station in the finals next week.

Lorraine said: "When I lost my job in sales six months ago I thought it's now or never. Looking back now they did me a favour. I just had to go for it.

"There was some real talent there, but I just went in there and made them laugh and it worked. When they came back and said I had won I was ecstatic."

Lorraine has starred as an extra on Hollyoaks, Brookside, Clocking Off, Rough Auntie and Always and Everyone, and is starring in Alphabetical Order, a Michael Frayn play set in a newspaper office with the Stockton Heath Playmakers.

Her drama skills have been finely-tuned by coach David Johnson, who has worked with Anna Friel, Sarah Lancashire and a host of north west stars.

And along with her brother Keith Hall, aged 24, and sister Samantha Hall, who is 17, who set up pop group ESP, she scooped a runner-up prize in this year's MTV Music Choice awards. But when she sat in the studio at a local radio station, she knew she had finally found her place.

"I want my own show with lots of humour and interviews. I've got a sense of fun and I am never stuck for words, I just want to entertain," she said.