AN archaelogist whose book of the hit BBC1 series "Egypt" has become a bestseller has turned her attention to one of the most famous women in history.

Dr Joyce Tyldesley is working on a new book about Cleopatra.

But this will be no Hollywood version but a fleshed-out account of the real life of arguably the most famous Queen of the Nile.

And she admitted at her Over Hulton home: "I am really looking forward to this one because queens and queen mothers often had extraordinary power in Egypt.

"If the king died, it would not be his brother who would rule but his wife or mother overseeing the next young king. This made them very strong individuals."

This latest venture will be produced by publishers Profile, but Dr Tyldesley has just finished another book for Thames & Hudson called "Chronicles of the Queens of Egypt", which will be a colourful, pictorial hardback.

She will be hoping it sells as well as her "Egypt" book which the BBC asked her to write as a literary companion for the successful TV series.

It tracked the lives of adventurers like Howard Carter, whose discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb entranced the world, and little-known Italian archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni, impressively played in the series by Matthew Kelly.

"I thought they did it all very well," said Dr Tyldesley, who at home is better known as Mrs Snape, married to fellow archaeologist Stephen and mum to 16 year-old Philippa and Jack, aged 12.

"They filmed it in genuine locations in Egypt, which isnt what all the production companies do. It is very expensive to film at the real sites so they usually go somewhere cheaper like Tunisia."

The likeable 45-year-old with a knack for writing books as popular with the public as with academics is working on another book for Penguin on the mythology of Ancient Egypt.

As if all that did not keep her busy enough there is also another work-in-progress on sport and games at that time "but it's only 12,000 words", she said with modest understatement.

Her interest in archaeology was fostered at Bolton School and she is an honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at Liverpool University.

She recognises the wealth of interest in her subject in Bolton.

The town has an enviable Egyptology section in its Museum, built up thanks to the Victorian mill owners who helped finance the Egypt Exploration Societys original work, giving artifacts and mummies to the town in return.

But she is never happier than when in Egypt, and is off to Luxor later in the year to take part in filming for a French TV programme about the subject of one of her books Hatchepsut, the first female Pharaoh.

In the meantime, she and Stephen have launched their own small publishing company, Rutherford Press, to raise money for digs and to allow other archaeologists to publish work.