Don't miss out on the biggest soaps gossip! Get a daily email direct to your inbox with our newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Actress Carol Harrison, 60, is best known for her roles in sitcom Brush Strokes and EastEnders playing Tiffany’s mum Louise.

Here the mum-of-one who lives with husband Ian, 50, in Brighton, talks about her smoking addiction and how, despite the controversy about them, she’s hoping e-cigarettes will help her quit.

When I was growing up in the 60s it seemed like everybody who was exciting and chic was a smoker.

I can remember looking at photos of Brigitte Bardot with a cigarette dangling lazily from her lips. She looked so sophisticated and cool. The cigarette seemed essential for every femme fatale.

By the time I reached my late teens in the early 70s, I was hooked. Not just on the image, but on cigarettes themselves.

When I began smoking at 17 it was the start of an addiction to tobacco that plagued me for over 40 years.

When you work in acting, your voice is very important to you. It’s part of your personality and it’s vital to be able to project yourself on stage and to sing confidently when a role demands it.

But not even the damage to my voice was enough to make me quit. It’s only now at the age of 60 that I feel confident I can finally avoid tobacco by using electronic cigarettes, e-cigs, as a substitute.

I know some feel more research needs to be done, but as far as I’m concerned they are far better than smoking tobacco.

(Image: BBC)

Of course, back in the 60s and 70s we didn’t fully understand the dangers of smoking. It never crossed my mind that cigarettes could cause you lasting damage. Who cares if it makes your voice a little bit raspy, I thought, it just makes you sound all the more sexy.

Later I became aware of the risks of lung cancer but as a smoker you tend to put that to the back of your mind.

As a young actress in the East End of London, I was very much into the rock chick scene. My cousin played in a band with Steve Marriott, who went on to form The Small Faces, and I grew up while the Mod look was the height of fashion.

By the time I was 18 and studying drama at college, I was smoking 20 a day. A lot of my friends used to smoke roll-ups to save money, but I always smoked elegant king-sized cigarettes, even though I could hardly afford them.

After college I went into the theatre, where I played some fantastic parts that required a good singing voice. But when I was approaching 30, the chickens came home to roost. I could no longer hit the high notes and my voice no longer seemed to have the same strength.

I went to a doctor, who referred me to the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London. They examined my throat and explained that I’d developed nodules – little growths that are normally fairly harmless but can affect the way air flows through your vocal chords.

“I think it’s better if we remove the nodules, and you should give up smoking,” the doctor said.

I was told that I wouldn’t be able to speak for about a month to six weeks.

The period of enforced silence that followed the surgery was a thoroughly miserable time. I had to write things down to communicate.

When my speaking voice came back it was higher than it had been before.

(Image: BBC)

I was distraught because I felt as if I’d lost part of my identity. For a while, I completely lost my confidence for singing, and I can remember sitting down and crying. I thought I’d never work again.

But as I slowly got better my confidence returned. Sadly, my addiction also came back. I stopped smoking for the aftermath of the surgery but within a few months I started again.

At first I just had the odd puff here and there, but eventually it increased. That’s the way addiction works, it’s sly and it creeps up on you.

I had my son Alfie when I was 37. As soon as I knew I was pregnant I stopped smoking. I was determined not to harm my child’s health. I managed to keep off cigarettes for the whole time I was breast-feeding, but eventually I slipped back.

I used to smoke on EastEnders between takes with June Brown, who plays Dot Cotton.

We just used to grab one whenever we could and we’d have a good old natter at the back of Albert Square, where you could smoke waiting for your scene.

Since then I’ve tried to give up for every major birthday, without success. The only other time I managed to quit for a while was when the indoor smoking ban came into effect in 2007.

I’ve made repeated attempts to give up, but no matter how hard I tried I could never get below 10 a day.

Then a friend introduced me to OK-Ecig.com – a firm that supplies ­electronic cigarettes in three types: high nicotine, medium and menthol.

(Image: Rex)

I didn’t know much about e-cigs but I tried the menthol flavour and things just seemed to click.

When I have one in my hand it now feels like I’m holding a real cigarette, which psychologically seems to help.

I’ve cheated once or twice and had a real cigarette, but that was only when I didn’t have my e-cig to hand.

I have finally quit those last 10 a day and I feel my breathing has improved. It has been a life-changing experience.

There have been calls to restrict the use of electronic cigarettes, but I’m against that. Why turn people like me, who are trying to give up smoking, into pariahs?

Of course, my advice to anyone who doesn’t already smoke is don’t start. But if, like me, you already do, then I believe e-cigs are far safer than tobacco.

As for my voice, it seems to be shaping up fine. I’ve just written a musical set in the Mod era and I play a part in it – so let’s hope my voice stays that way.

Carol’s show, All or Nothing: The Mod Musical, is at The Pavilion Theatre in Worthing, East Sussex, in September. A national tour is planned for 2015. See allornothingthemusical.com

(Image: Corbis)

Are e-cigarettes a good idea or not?

E-cigarettes store nicotine in a solution of glycerine and water called propylene glycol. When you inhale, a battery-powered heating element steams up a vapour containing addictive nicotine which you suck in through the mouthpiece.

This cuts out tobacco’s many carcinogenic toxins but in high doses, the nicotine itself is poisonous.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of anti-smoking charity ASH, said: “We don’t know what the long-term risks of using e-cigarettes are. We don’t know how much nicotine reaches the lungs or what the impact is.

“However, one in two smokers will die early from a smoking-related disease, so if you already smoke, you are much better off using e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement patches for the rest of your life.

“If we suddenly found these devices were being used by adults and children who had never smoked before we would probably be more concerned about that.

“In fact, if the whole population used these products it would be less harmful in terms of overall impact than one in five adults smoking as they do now and thousands more children becoming addicted.

“Some research suggests e-cigs are more effective at helping you to quit than nicotine replacement. There are now two million people using e-cigarettes and about a third of those have stopped smoking traditional cigarettes completely.”