With many people calling for old series to be repeated to help fill the TV schedules during the coronavirus pandemic, one show that keeps coming up again and again is Footballers’ Wives.
One part camp, two parts ridiculous, the series followed the escapades of a group of WAGs and their footballer husbands with plot lines involving baby swaps, unhinged nurses, incest and a man literally being shagged to death.
Subtle, it was not.It also introduced us to iconic characters like Tanya Turner and Amber Gates across its five series, which ran on ITV from 2002 to 2006.
With the show very much back in the public’s consciousness amid calls for its return, we thought it was time we checked in with the cast to see what they’d all been up to since the final whistle blew on the series...Zoe Lucker played Tanya TurnerThe stand-out star of Footballers’ Wives, Zoe has had many other high-profile roles since leaving scheming Tanya Turner behind – although many of them have certainly borrowed from her.
Zoe appeared in a short-lived, police-based Casualty spin-off called HolbyBlue in 2007, before going on to play Max Branning’s love interest Vanessa Gold in EastEnders from 2009 to 2010. The character has been much-memed on the internet in recent years thanks to her infamous “Bubbly’s in the fridge” meltdown.
In 2013, Zoe had a recurring role in Waterloo Road as Carol Barry, before going on to have a regular role in Hollyoaks, playing Reenie McQueen from 2015 to 2016.
Zoe was also a contestant on
Strictly Come Dancing in 2009, competing against her former co-star Laila Rouass, who played Amber Gates. Zoe and her partner James Jordan were seventh to be eliminated from the competition. Cristian Solimeno played Jason TurnerJason Turner was the first big casualty of Footballers’ Wives, with the Earl’s Park captain killed off during the second series’ finale in 2003 in a “whodunnit?” storyline.
From there, Cristian popped up in a New Year special of The Vicar Of Dibley in 2005 and appeared in Kay Mellor series Strictly Confidential opposite Suranne Jones the following year.
Between 2013 and 2014, he played Ray McCormick in Hollyoaks, and also starred in 2018 independent film Welcome To Curiosity alongside Richard Blackwood.
In 2020, Cristian popped up in Hugh Lawrie’s
HBO comedy series Avenue 5, playing Dave in two episodes.
As well as acting, Cristian also works as a writer and director. Gary Lucy played Kyle PascoeGary was already famous when he landed the role of Earl’s Park heartthrob Kyle in Footballers’ Wives, having played Luke Morgan in Hollyoaks prior to the show.
He returned to the Channel 4 soap in 2017, taking a short break from the role in 2018 to appear in a stage production of The Full Monty.
Prior to rejoining Hollyoaks, Gary appeared in The Bill as PC Will Fletcher from 2005 to 2010, and played Danny Pennant in EastEnders from 2012 to 2014.
Gary has also taken part in two series of Dancing On Ice – the first in 2010, where he finished runner-up, before returning for an all-stars series in 2014, where he was eliminated fourth. Susie Amy played Chardonnay Lane-PascoeWe’re still not quite over Chardonnay getting killed off before her time at the start of the third series, but it was far from the last time we saw Susie on our screens.
After guest roles in the likes of Hotel Babylon, The Royal and Doctors shortly after leaving Footballers’ Wives, Susie had a three-episode stint in Coronation Street in 2007 before landing a leading role in ITV’s short-lived soap Echo Beach the following year.
In 2009, she also had a minor role in
James Corden and Mat Horne’s critically-panned film Lesbian Vampire Killers.
In recent years, Susie has popped up in Doctors again, as well as Death In Paradise, Casualty and Holby City.
In 2018, Susie was reunited on screen with Gary Lucy, (aka Chardonnay’s husband Kyle), when she landed a four-month guest role on Hollyoaks as Scarlett, the ex-wife of Gary’s character Luke Morgan.Gillian Taylforth played Jackie PascoeHaving played EastEnders’ Kathy Beale for over 15 years, most people were already familiar with Gillian Taylforth when she joined Footballers’ Wives. Her character, Jackie, was the only one who appeared continuously over the show’s five series.
When the show ended, Gillian was reunited with her former on-screen son when she joined the cast of The Bill as Sgt Nikki Wright in 2006, as well as enjoying a number of short stints on the Loose
Women panel in the late 00s.
Gillian entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2013, and shortly after joined the cast of Hollyoaks as Sandy Ruscoe, who she played until 2015.
The same year, Gillian made a shock return to EastEnders when Kathy came back from the dead, and she continues to play the character to this day. Daniel Schutzmann played Salvatore Biagi Shortly after his character left Earl’s Park during the second series of the show, Daniel was back playing another footballer when he guest-starred as Izzy Hoyland’s boyfriend Pete in London-based episodes of
Australian soap Neighbours in 2007.
A few years later, he popped up as a waiter in Coronation Street before joining the cast of Doctors for a four-month stint as Dr. Franc Christophe in 2014. Nathan Constance played Ian WalmsleyNathan’s first role after leaving the show came just a few months after his final episode when he had a guest role in The Bill in 2003.
From there, he played Chum in the 2006 film
London to Brighton before taking on the role of Zac in the 2008 film Adulthood, the sequel to Kidulthood.
In 2009, Nathan played DC Connor in
BBC drama Hunter and also had minor roles in Waking The Dead and Misfits.
More recently, he’s been lending his voice to video games, working on titles including Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, Titanfall, Lords of the Fallen and Battlefield 1.Katherine Monaghan played Donna WalmsleyKatherine landed her first major TV role when she was cast as young WAG Donna in 2002.
Since leaving the show in series two, she’s only had a small number of other TV parts, including minor roles in Judge John Deed in 2007, Vera in 2013 and Holby City in 2014.Laila Rouass played Amber GatesAmber may have been one of the most popular characters from the show, but she didn’t actually arrive until the third series and left half-way through the final run of episodes.
For Laila, an obligatory guest appearance in Casualty followed before she joined the cast of ITV sci-fi series Primeval in 2009.
She appeared in the ninth series of BBC spy drama Spooks the following year, before landing a main role in Holby City, playing Sahira Shah from 2011 to 2012.
In 2015, she appeared alongside Elizabeth Hurley in short-lived US soap The Royals as Deputy Prime Minister Rani, before popping up in the penultimate series of Ruth Jones sitcom Stella.
Most recently, Laila appeared in
Disney Channel series The Lodge, as well as in
Netflix series Safe in 2018.
The same year also saw her stage an on-screen reunion with Zoe Lucker when they were both interviewed on Loose Women.
As previously mentioned, Laila was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing alongside Zoe in 2009, where she and partner Anton DuBeke made the semi-final. Ben Price played Conrad GatesBen is one of the few Footballers’ Wives stars who is now arguably better known for another of his roles, after he took over as Nick Tisley in Coronation Street in 2009.
He has remained with the soap – bar a brief period away between 2017 and 2018 – ever since, with his character having a number of high-profile storylines in his decade on the cobbles.
Prior to joining Corrie, Ben was a series regular on Casualty from 2005 to 2007, playing hospital boss Nathan Spencer. Alison Newman played Hazel Bailey Alison played ruthless football agent Hazel during the first four series of Footballers’ Wives.
In 2008, she was cast in ITV drama Rock Rivals, which was based on the lives of celebrity judges on an X Factor-style show. The same year, Alison also made her first appearance as DI Samatha Keeble on EastEnders. The character returned in 2014 and led the investigation into Lucy Beale’s murder, last appearing in 2016.
Alison has also had a number of guest roles in dramas including Holby City, Call The Midwife, Casualty and New Tricks.John Forgeham played Frank Laslett John had roles in number of classic shows including Z Cars, Crossroads and The Avengers prior to taking on the role of club owner Frank Laslett in the first three series of Footballers’ Wives.
He went on to appear on Sky football drama Dream Team in 2005, with his final credited TV role coming in 2012, when he appeared in an episode of Doctors.
Sadly, John died in 2017 at the age of 75, after falling out of bed at his home. Julie Legrand played Jeanette DunkleyJulie certainly made the role of deranged nurse Jeanette Dunkley her own, and stayed with the medical theme after leaving the show in 2005.
In 2009, she made her first guest appearance in Doctors, before returning as a different character ten years later.
A year later, Julie began appearing in Holby City as Paula Burrows and continued to make episodic appearances up until 2014.
She has also popped up in Call The Midwife in 2018, playing the character of Ruth Gelin in the first episode of the seventh series.
Julie also appeared in David Tennant’s final episode of Doctor Who in 2010, when she starred as The Partisan. Sarah Barrand played Shannon Donnelly-LawsonSarah joined the cast of Footballers’ Wives in the third series, with her character initially serving as a parody of Coleen Rooney.
After the show came to an end, Sarah filmed ITV documentary Date With The Dalai with co-star Zoe Lucker in 2006, with the two stars journeying across
India before watching the Dalai Lama’s Spring teachings.
Since then, Sarah has appeared in a number of independent films including Stag Night, Caught In The Act, and The Kid.
She also works as a voiceover artist, lending her voice to a number of commercials. Jamie Davis played Harley LawsonBetween 2006 and 2012, Jamie, who played Harley Lawson on the show, had a number of one-episode roles in series including The Bill, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, Misfits, Doc Martin and Shameless.
However, by far his biggest role was that of Max Walker in Casualty.
While he’s previously played a different character on the BBC drama in 2009, Jamie joined the cast full time in 2013, sticking with the show for five years. Ben Richards played Bruno MilliganLike many of his Footballers’ Wives co-stars, Ben found himself in The Bill when the show ended.
After two years playing Bruno, Ben took on the role of PC Nate Roberts from 2007 until shortly before the series’ final episode in August 2010.
In January 2012, Ben revealed that he had been diagnosed with bowel
cancer and underwent surgery and treatment before he entered remission a year later.
Since then, Ben has been in Hollyoaks, playing regular character Ben Bradley from 2014 to 2016.Helen Latham played Lucy MilliganHelen was a later addition to the Footballers’ Wives cast, joining the show in the fourth series.
After it finished, it was a while until we saw Helen on screen again until she popped up for a guest appearance on Casualty in 2011.
Since then, she’s had a handful of roles in short films and TV movies. Phina Oruche played Liberty BakerPhina’s time on Footballers’ Wives may have been short, but thanks to her outrageous character Liberty, it sure was memorable.
Following the conclusion of the series, Phina landed the role of Gabby Sharpe in Hollyoaks in 2010, and popped up in Doctors in 2012.
In 2016, Phina debuted her one woman show called Identity Crisis at the Edinburgh Festival and NYC Soho’s Fringe festival, which garnered five-star reviews.
She also starred in
Irish drama Taken Down in 2018, playing the role of Marvellous.
Phina has also served as a columnist in the
Liverpool Echo, and has also presented and produced on the city’s BBC radio station. Chucky Venice played Tremaine Gidigbi Chucky – now known by the name Charles Venn – has had an enduring career since his one-series stint on Footballers’ Wives came to an end when the show was cancelled.
In the immediate years that followed, he had minor roles in
Hollywood films Bourne Ultimatum and The Dark Knight.
In 2012, he began appearing in EastEnders as Bianca Jackson’s ex-boyfriend Ray Jackson, staying on the Square for just over a year.
From there, Charles joined the cast of Casualty in 2015 as nurse Jacob Master, who he continues to play to this day.
In 2018, Charles was also a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, where he finished in sixth place with partner Karen Clifton. READ MORE: The Definitive Ranking Of Footballers' Wives' 20 Wildest Moments 12 Camp Classics We Need Back On TV To Inject Some Fabulousness Into The Schedules Stop Everything – A Footballers' Wives Musical Is Officially Happening