A COMEDIAN who was helped by a local charity for homeless youngsters in her teens is putting on a show at the Octagon to raise funds and help highlight its work.

Sophie Willan will be performing the 93rd — and final — performance of her hit touring show The Novice Detective at the theatre on Wednesday, February 11.

It is a heartwarming and candid autobiographical story touching on her childhood search for her long-lost father.

As a youngster, Sophie grew up without a mother or father and lived in several areas around the borough including Bromley Cross, Tonge Moor, Halliwell and Heaton.

She was in and out of foster care and eventually placed with her grandmother from the age of eight to 15.

On holiday in Ibiza with her gran at just eight, she got a taste of performing at a children's club and realised this was her passion.

"I always enjoyed comedy," she recalled. "I loved Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett, that kind of observational comedy."

Looking after Sophie proved difficult for her grandmother, and Sophie admits that she later became a very difficult teen.

"I spent most of my time drinking cider at bus stops with boys who I thought would bring me the moon. In actual fact they could only just spell it."

At the age of 15, Sophie had to leave her grandmother's house and find somewhere else to live. She found Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme.

"They were fantastic with me," she said. "I received a lot of support and guidance from BYPHS that was an invaluable and crucial part of my development. They first placed me in supportive lodgings where I learnt all my life skills — how to wash clothes, how to pay bills and food shop. And by the time I was 17 I got my first flat on the scheme."

She was with them until she was 18 and never forgot the organisation's importance at a very difficult time in her life. She also realised the lifeline they offered other young people.

The former Turton High School pupil threw herself into writing and performing and built up a successful career in comedy, appearing all over the country including a sell-out Edinburgh Festival appearance. She has toured extensively with The Novice Detective, which centres around the search for her father which ended up tracking down a '1990s popstar.

Sophie is 27 now and living in Salford. She returned to talk to youngsters at the BYPHS AGM last year year.

"Sophie's story and her comedy made a real connection with the young people," said Maura Jackson, the charity's manager. "We talked about possibly putting on a comedy and creative writing workshop and a group of eight young people went to see her perform in Manchester. They loved the show, so we felt a way to engage with them was for her to put on a show in Bolton. It's brilliant that she is also raising money for us."

The Octagon gave the charity the studio free of charge, and Sophie is donating all proceeds to help the charity buy extras and luxuries like college and job interview clothing or equipment, emergency food parcels and money for essentials like birth certificates, often lost or left behind when young people become homeless.

Sophie added: "I'm really excited to be bringing my show home. I've performed it nationally and internationally in the past year but bringing it back to my home turf feels like the most special performance yet. It's also a great opportunity to show the charity's residents that there is potential for life in the future."

Sophie is now working on a new show and also developing a sitcom pilot for BBC TV after a producer came to see The Novice Detective.

n The Novice Detective is at Bolton Octagon on February 11 at 7.30pm with tickets at £10 each.