TETBURY was alive with the sound of music this weekend as Connie Fisher won TV's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

Family and friends of the 23-year-old were put through a nail-biting final show in the long-running competition.

But the wait was worth it as the young star beat off the two other finalists and won the six-month contract to perform Maria van Trapp in The Sound of Music.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's show will starts at the London Palladium in November and is expected to be a sell-out.

Connie is the granddaughter of former landlords of The Trouble House Inn Laddie and Dot Peare, who ran the Tetbury pub in the 1960s.

Great aunt Kath Kirkby, who lives in Tetbury, was nursing a bit of a hangover on Sunday morning after celebrating Connie's triumph.

She said: "It was lovely watching the show but it was very tense so I had a bit of a drink.

"All the girls were lovely and it was such a big thing for her to win - I think it will alter her life.

"We are also hoping to get a bus from Tetbury to see the show but I heard it is booked up already until February - we will get there somehow."

Connie was favourite to win the show from the start.

When she won she said: "I feel speechless. I gave it everything I had - vocally, emotionally - by the end of it I was on the floor.

"It's changed my life forever - no more telesales! My life is in the theatre now and that's where I always wanted it to be."

Andrew Lloyd Webber told Connie: "You are a star and I really believe you have a huge career in musical theatre."