10 Facts About… Beverley Callard ( Corrie’s Liz Mcdonald)
YOUR lnside soap BRIEFING ON THE WOMAN BEHIND CORRIE’S LIZ…
1 On 28 March 1957, Beverley Jane Moxon (pictured here with her grandad) became the first child born to baker Clive Moxon and
his wife Mavis. The family lived in Morley, Yorkshire and suffered a tragedy when Beverley’s brother Clive died at birth in 1960. Mavis and Clive went on to have youngest child Stephanie, and Beverley remains close to her sister.
2 She’s famous for her Corrie alter ego, but Bev’s career started across the Pennines in Emmerdale. In 1983 she joined the cast as Angie Richards, who worked in the local chip shop and dated Jackie Merrick – the secret love child of Jack Sugden, making him Robert and Victoria’s half-sibling.
3 Although she’s made a huge success of acting, Bev is passionate about her career in fitness, too.
As well as releasing several workout DVDS, Bev has taught exercise classes for
years. “I’m literally Jane Fonda – I’ve taught fitness classes for 28 years, three times a week,” she says. “I’m a huge fan of exercise, but I don’t do it every day. It’s dangerous to be a fitness junkie – everything in moderation.”
4 Although Bev has had major roles in The Peter Principle, The Practice and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, she’s known best as the cobbles’ Elizabeth Jane Mcdonald. She arrived on the Street in 1989 with husband Jim and
twins Andy and Steve. Bev calls screen son Simon Gregson her “best friend in the world”, and she introduced him to his wife, Emma. She set them up on a blind date at her pub, and now they are married with three sons!
5 Like Liz, Bev has had an eventful love life – she’s been married four times. Her first hubby (19741978) was Paul Atkinson, the biological father of her daughter Rebecca, followed by economics teacher David Sowden (1980-1988). She had her second child, son Joshua, with third husband Steve Callard, whom she married in 1989 before divorcing in 2001. Bev has now found happiness with her fourth husband Jon Mcewan, who she began dating in 2003 and eventually married in 2010.
6 She’s had a lot of trauma in her life, but Bev is a very caring lady who owns three dogs that she dotes on. She adopted a rescue dog – an English bull terrier named Trev – in 2011, took in second bull terrier Madge in 2014, and then welcomed schnauzer Jeffery to the family last year. The adorable trio are often the stars of Bev’s Twitter posts.
7 Acting talent runs in the family – Bev’s daughter Rebecca has carved out a successful career, starring in The Borrowers, Sunburn, Blackout, Ordinary Lies and Detectorists. She also did a 2011 guest stint in Corrie, playing nasty Ruth Walsh – who bullied Fiz in prison.
8 Brave Beverley has spoken openly about her mental health struggles in recent years, recalling her battle with severe clinical depression. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 2009 and received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to help treat her condition. “I tried [to take her own life] maybe half a dozen times, but it wasn’t a cry for help at all,” recalls Bev. “I’d known for quite a while that I wasn’t myself, but I didn’t really know what to do about it.” The actress is now an ambassador for mental health charity MIND, helping others.
9 When Corrie legend Anne Kirkbride, aka Deirdre, died in 2015, it was a devastating blow for Bev. She and ‘Annie’ were extremely close both on screen as Liz and Deirdre, and in real life. “People used to call us ‘work sisters’ because we were just always together, even in our private lives,” relates Bev. “We used to go to Spain together with our husbands, and I truly miss her every single day.”
10 Bev got her first tattoo aged 59! She was inked in tribute to her husband Jon, and the tattoo depicts the tragedy and comedy masks, musical notes, a red heart, the date they were married, and their names. Aw!