Diane Cooke talks to Lancashire's favourite TV personality about love, fashion and weight loss

LISA Riley is in a very good place. With her 40th birthday approaching next year, she's found love, lost weight and is launching her own fashion collection.

And after 30 years working in showbusiness, she's finally been able to spend time achieving some personal goals. Travel is one, launching her own label is another.

Just Be You – for sizes 14 to 28 – launches today and will be showcased at the Curves Fashion Festival, a celebration of plus-sized clothing and body confidence, at Manchester Central. What's more, it's her ultimate ambition to open a store in her home town of Bury.

Lisa's mum Cath passed away after a cancer battle in 2012 just weeks before the former Emmerdale and Waterloo Road star took on the challenge of Strictly Come Dancing. Lisa was understandably anxious about taking part but her mum reassured her with the words "Just Be You". And when she was wracking her brain for a name for her new fashion line, her brother Liam reminded her of Cath's words.

"It was perfect and it said everything I wanted to say," she says. "My mum would have been very proud. The response to the collection has blown me away. It's been eight months of blood, sweat and tears. It would have been so easy for me after Strictly to turn into a style guru because everyone was obsessed with my clothes, which was very flattering.

"But fashion has always been a very big part of my life. A lot of celebrities just put their name to something, but I can't lie. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it properly so I started researching larger shapes. Bigger girls are all different shapes and sizes. I've got no bum, for example, but some plus size girls have big bums. My garments take these differences into consideration and the result is they feel fantastic when you're wearing them. They're top quality fabrics and British made."

For years Lisa, who lives in Tottington, struggled to find fashionable clothes that made her feel good – "I don't want to look like I'm wearing a tent from the army shop. I didn't want to wear smocks. I wanted to feel sexy."

So with a diary full of celebrity functions she started to source her wardrobe from American fashion retailers.

She said: "Pardon the pun, but the American market is bigger and better and I wanted to bring that to the UK for us British girls."

Lisa, who modelled for Evans after her appearance on Strictly, has lost almost four stones since she starred in the programme. The intense cardio workouts and a shift in eating caused the weight to drop off at an alarming rate.

Before Strictly she performed in Calendar Girls at 19 venues across the UK and living in hotels and eating at irregular times took their toll on her weight.

"I'd start the day with a full English at the hotel, then pre-show I'd have pasta and garlic bread at an Italian restaurant. Then afterwards we'd have a few drinks and get the munchies. Quite often I'd be going to bed after an egg muffin. I never considered the repercussions eating like that could have. I eat a lot more healthily these days. I've even given up booze, tea and coffee for a month and found it quite easy. I don't need Dutch Courage. I've always been a party girl."

When Lisa started rehearsing for Strictly with professional dancer Robin Windsor she was also filming the death scenes of her character Tina Allen in Waterloo Road.

"I was dancing and dying at the same time and it was tough," says Lisa.

It would have been a crippling schedule for most professionals, but added to the stressful mix was the fact that Lisa's mum had died just two weeks before and the pair had been very close speaking up to 10 times a day. No-one would have blamed her if she'd thrown in the towel. But that's not her style. It was her dancing partner who proved to be her salvation.

"Robin has become like a brother to me," she says. "When I left Strictly I gave a speech saying no-one knew what it was like having me as a partner. People presumed I was talking about being overweight, but it was about Robin's support during that time. I was crying a lot, but I didn't want that on camera. But he has shoulders as big as Everest and he got me through that grieving period. He could read me so well and knew how to lift my spirits. We're friends for life."

Another incentive for keeping healthy is her family history. Lisa's dad was taken seriously ill with diabetes in April and cancer has killed several members of her family.

"When my dad was taken ill. I got very frightened. I already have the cancer gene through my family. I'm not saying I'll never have another drink again, but I've learned that it's all about moderation."

Lisa has also found love, although she doesn't want to jinx the relationship by exposing her partner to the media.

"He has turned my life around for the good. I love him more than anything. Life does go on and my mum would not have wanted me to be crying in bed with a duvet over my head."

Lisa has also indulged her passion for travel. She's visited far-flung places such as Peru and Iceland and worked in Khatmandu orphanages. She raised £69,000 for them when she got home. She' also found peace along the way.

"The brain can be a very dangerous thing and sometimes we can get lost in our own thoughts, but we all have the tools within ourselves to heal and I've found those tools," she says. "I didn't embrace my own company for a long time. My friends always used to laugh at me because I never enjoyed being on my own. I'd always be asking them to stay over. I hated even going around Bury town centre on my own. Now they're really proud that I'm seeing the world."

Lisa's online fashion collection www.justbeyouclothing.co.uk launches today.