Michelle Keegan: “Mark visited me on set with tea bags!”
Actress Michelle Keegan opens up about her tough life on the Our Girl set – and quality time with her TV presenter husband Mark Wright
After finding fame in 2008 as Tina Mcintyre on Coronation Street, Michelle Keegan swapped the cobbles for camouflage in 2015 when she joined the hit BBC series Our Girl as Corporal Georgie Lane.
Last year, the 30-year-old actress endured a gruelling eight months of nonstop shooting for the show – travelling to Malaysia, South Africa and Kuala Lumpur.
And she admits that she had to keep thoughts of home and her husband of three years, Mark Wright, at the back of her mind just to make it through.
She reveals, “It was a really long shoot. I didn’t think about home when I was out there because I knew how long I was working for. I couldn’t think about home because then I’d get homesick. I knew I needed to focus on the job. By the end of the shoot, I was looking forward to normality. I just wanted a normal Sunday afternoon with my family, Mark and our dogs. Just to chill.”
FEELING HOMESICK
The actress also opens up – on an upcoming episode of BBC1’S Who Do You Think You Are? – about how difficult she found being away from home during filming.
She admits, “I loved every second of it and it was an amazing opportunity, but I felt so far away from home, it was ridiculous. There’s nowhere quite like Manchester and, as soon as I’m back here, I feel settled, I feel happy. Manchester’s home.”
Michelle also reveals that life on the Our Girl set was tough. Aside from enduring exhausting six-day weeks, she was also put through her paces with punishing assault courses filled with barbed wire.
She explains, “We were filming for up to six days a week sometimes, only getting Sundays off. We had drinks every weekend. We had a bit of a blowout because we needed to. We’d be up at 5am and wouldn’t finish filming until 8pm. So when Saturday came around, people were like, ‘I need to get out, I need a pint!’”
She adds, “I hated running around on the assault course scenes. We had to do it, and obviously with the heat, it was horrendous. I didn’t get a stand-in. They made me get on the floor and crawl through barbed wire.”
Fans were left devastated at the end of the last series in October, when Georgie’s on-off flame Elvis (played by Luke Pasqualino) was tragically killed by a bomb just moments after the pair rekindled their romance.
But Michelle admits that while it was tough to say goodbye to the actor, the pair are still in touch.
She says, “I was disappointed to lose Luke because he was one of my best mates. I was with him from day one, and we were both new to the series, but he had another job he was contracted to. It was bittersweet, though, because I knew we’d get a good storyline out of it.
“I still keep in touch with Luke. He texted me yesterday as he’s out in Spain filming. We keep in touch. I keep in touch with all the lads in the cast. We have a big group Whatsapp.”
TIME TOGETHER
While Michelle contended with her manic Our Girl schedule, husband Mark landed a role as a presenter on entertainment show Extra last year, which saw him move to LA.
But she insists the pair found time to see each other, and Mark, 31, would visit with some much-needed home comforts.
She says, “Mark came to see me in South Africa. He couldn’t make it to Malaysia because he got the job on Extra in LA and couldn’t get leave. We spoke on Facetime every day. When he came to see me, he brought me some tea bags. My friend also came out to see me and brought me
Rich Tea biscuits – the normal stuff that you don’t think you’ll miss, but you do.”
Michelle and Mark may have raised eyebrows from critics over their longdistance romance, but she insists she still has no desire to join him in LA.
US LIFESTYLE
She explains, “I’ve got an American agent and I’ve had a few meetings, but I’ve got nothing lined up. I do like it out there, but I couldn’t live there full-time. I’m such a home bird and I love going back to Manchester and, when Mark’s home, chilling out in Essex at our home. I think LA is too far away. It’s good to go for a few weeks to get a bit of sunshine.”
And the star insists she’s in no rush to take on another huge role, explaining, “I worked so much last year I feel like now is my time to have a few months just doing whatever I want to do, like going to the gym and spending time with our dogs – just normal stuff.”
‘LA is too far away, I couldn’t live there full-time’