Fears for Guys and Dolls star

Fears are growing that the star of a top West End show may have to pull out after only four weeks in the role.

Sarah Lancashire won rave reviews for her performance as Miss Adelaide, the nightclub singer desperate to marry her man, in the hit musical Guys And Dolls.

But she only managed to perform for a month and her understudy has had to take over as Lancashire battles to recover from a severe chest infection.

The show's producers are now expected to decide whether she is likely to be well enough to return, or to end her contract.

The former Coronation Street actress, 41, took on the role opposite former EastEnders star Nigel Harman on 6 December and is contracted to stay with the production at the Piccadilly Theatre until March. She lasted until 4 January, when she was laid low with the infection and has not appeared since.

A spokesman for Guys And Dolls said: "Sarah Lancashire is off with a chest infection and we are awaiting her return."

She was highly acclaimed as the nightclub performer with a heart of gold who has been engaged for more than a decade and desperately wants to get her gambler boyfriend to propose.

The Evening Standard praised her "strong singing voice", adding: "It makes you wonder why it has taken Nathan Detroit 14 long years to make an honest woman of her."

Ironically, her character keeps coming down with a cold on stage. Lancashire's misfortune mirrors the experience of former EastEnders actress Martine McCutcheon in the revival of My Fair Lady in 2001.

McCutcheon was dogged with a string of chest and throat infections and bouts of flu from the first night and missed almost 70 performances over four months before quitting.