Daphne's West End dream

As Daffy Daphne Moon, the sweet-faced Mancunian love interest in the American sitcom Frasier, she earns £275,000 an episode.

Jane Leeves's £20 million contract makes her one of the highestpaid British actresses of all time.

But today, Leeves, who struggled for 10 years before her Hollywood break, says she is considering a serious financial downshift. After the birth of her second child at Christmas, she plans to quit US television in favour of the West End - where she can expect a salary similar to the £350 a week paid to Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew Perry when they trod the boards.

Leeves, who is married to TV executive Marshall Coben, with whom she has a daughter Isabella, said: "My friends say I'm mad to even think about coming back to the UK because the pay doesn't compare but to be honest, I can afford to be a little bit mad now. I'm not expecting to take time off.

"I'm looking to pack in TV and head for the stage - perhaps Broadway and perhaps the West End. I miss England and am looking forward to getting back."

Last year, Leeves won a three-year deal to stay with the show - which stars Kelsey Grammer as the radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane.

However, this year NBC announced it was axing the show at the end of the 11th series in May next year. It was not clear whether Leeves's contract entitled her to the full £20 million, although she will have received nearly half.

In an exclusive interview with the Standard, Leeves, 41, said she was keen to try something new: "It's really hard when you work on a show which is as successful as Frasier. You get a bit stereotyped, I suppose."

The daughter of an electrician and a nurse from Sussex, an ankle injury at 18 put paid to her ambitions as a dancer. At 21 she packed her bags. "I had nothing to lose," she explained. "I thought, 'I want to be an actress - I'm going to LA'." She won the Frasier role in 1994.

If she does land a West End part, it will not be her first stage venture. Last year, she starred in Cabaret on the Broadway.