They were the perfect double act.

Their acquaintance came through need and prompted the start of what looked set to be an everlasting friendship.

But death tore them apart, and now Kitty McGeever still struggles to cope with the loss of her best friend, Janet Greenwood.

The pair met when Bradford actress Kitty was seeking someone to help her live independently in her home.

Kitty, from Wyke, became the first blind actress to play a blind character on a British soap when, last year, she landed the role of Emmerdale’s loveable, colourful ex-con Lizzie Lakely.

The actress says she didn’t want to be a burden on her family who were already caring for her.

“Five years ago I was on kidney dialysis and I was gravely ill,” she says. “My parents were doing everything they could for me. My father was taking early retirement so my husband could go back to work, but it got to the point where I thought I would like someone else – I felt their lives revolved around me.”

Social services helped her with the job advertisement and originally a non-smoker was stipulated. “That turned out to be very important,” says Kitty, referring to the fact that Janet smoked.

Sifting through applications for interviews at Wyke Community Centre, Kitty read Janet’s late application and instantly connected with the single mum. Like Kitty, who has battled ill health and coped with the devastating loss of her baby son, Felix, who suffered respiratory problems, Janet had suffered tragedy in her life. Her husband had died and she was seeking extra hours to fit around her job as a school dinner lady.

“I don’t know what it was, but Janet’s application really spoke to me,” says Kitty. “She said she had a 12-year-old daughter, her mother had died, her husband had died and she would love another little job.

“At the end of all the interviews, my Janet walked in and I knew as soon as she walked through the door. I cried for her, she cried for me, it was really emotional. And when I rang and told her she’d got the job, she burst into tears. She said she’d never wanted a job so much in her life.

“She came to work with me and within months she was my best friend and righthand person.”

When Kitty and her husband split up, she extended Janet’s hours so she could give up her dinner lady job.

“She was phenomenal. She transformed the house so I knew where everything was and could live on my own. I wouldn’t have got through it without her,” says Kitty.

Following Kitty’s kidney transplant in 2006, she began to work again. The RADA-trained actress had had a successful career on stage and screen and, with her sister Caroline Mitchell, a soap scriptwriter, had produced comedy show Luvvie’s Blind. The sketch show, narrated by Kitty, was a humorous take on the experiences of being blind and also featured Janet, who provided a voice-over as Kitty’s mum.

“She helped me with the show and got me organised,” says Kitty.

When Kitty landed the role of Lizzie in Emmerdale, Janet accompanied her to the Leeds studios. She was one of Kitty’s two assistants helping her around the set and recording her lines on a dictaphone so she could learn them.

Emmerdale viewers warmed to Kitty’s character and, she hints, there could be romance in future.

Kitty loves her job on the Yorkshire soap, but will never forget her first day of filming last year. She received a phone-call from Janet, who had gone to the doctors with an incurable cough.

An X-ray revealed a growth. “It was lung cancer and it was quite aggressive. From that moment on, our roles reversed. I looked after Janet, which I was really grateful to be able to do,” says Kitty.

When Janet started chemotherapy treatment, Kitty moved into her Low Moor home to share the care of Charlotte, who was 16 when Janet was diagnosed in May last year.

Anne Marshall became Kitty’s second assistant, helping her on set and around the house. Anne enabled Kitty to care for Janet alongside her filming commitments. “Anne started filling in for Janet, but became much more. Because Janet was so ill, she helped me look after her,” explains Kitty.

Janet was adamant that Charlotte, who was sitting her GCSEs, shouldn’t know that her mother’s condition was terminal. But when it was discovered the cancer had spread to Janet’s back, she and Kitty decided to tell her.

“Janet said, ‘I’m dying. They can’t do any more, they don’t know how long I’ve got. I am coming home to palliative care. I want you to have Charlotte’,” says Kitty.

Tears tumbled down Janet’s cheeks as she told her friend she didn’t want to ask her when she’d been through so much in her own life, and lost her own son, but Charlotte was the most precious thing she had and she wanted Kitty to take care of her.

The pals struck a deal; Kitty would care for Charlotte and, after death, Janet would look after Kitty’s beloved baby Felix.

“It was a very special relationship and it was meant to be. I used to say ‘you look after my boy and I will look after your girl, that is the deal’,” says Kitty. “I love Charlotte. I couldn’t love her any more if she was my own.”

Janet died in September – four months after being diagnosed. Devastated by her mum’s death, Charlotte focused on arranging the funeral. “Charlotte took the lead. Janet had a wonderful funeral. Charlotte chose everything for her. Nobody could wear black – she wanted bright colours and no sad songs. It was more of a party atmosphere,” says Kitty.

Charlotte is on a hairdressing course at Bradford College and regularly picks up tips from make-up artists and hairstylists when accompanying Kitty to the Emmerdale set.

Charlotte says at times she didn’t feel like herself, but with support she was able to deal with the devastating loss of her mum.

“I felt like I’d lost everything, but with people there to help you, it feels a lot better,” says Charlotte. “Kitty has helped me through. I could not have coped without her and without the whole family as well. We help each other and it works perfectly.”