Beverley Callard on her move to Ireland and battling cancer

In the last few months, actress Beverley Callard, best known for her three decades as Liz McDonald in Coronation Street, has been welcomed in Ireland. She talks to Janice Butler about her new role in Fair City, making Wicklow her home and staying positive through her cancer treatment. My first encounter with Beverley Callard was in the corridors of RTÉ a few months ago. The actress, who became a household name playing pub landlady Liz McDonald on Coronation Street, was instantly recognisable, even without her character's trademark flamboyant wardrobe. She was looking for the Fair City offices, and I pointed her in the right direction. The encounter was brief, but I left thinking what a lovely, warm, polite person she was. My next meeting with her was for this interview. We were due to meet in person, but due to personal reasons, she had to re- schedule to the next day, on Zoom. "I’ve maybe another hour to do, and then it’s all done," she says when I ask about the painting project she’s been undertaking at her new house in Co Wicklow, which she’s been documenting on social media. RTÉ Guide Beverley opened up to her followers on Instagram last month that she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and since then, she’s been giving regular updates on her health. In a bid to keep her mind busy while waiting on results, she decided to paint the home that she’s recently moved into with her husband, Jon McEwan, after the couple relocated from the UK when she got her new role as Lily Patterson in Fair City. "I always need to be busy, especially at this time," she adds. "It’s been more of a shock than anything else. I’m coping more often than not. I don’t take it a day at a time, I take it an hour at a time. I’ve good hours and bad hours. Cancer touches everybody in some way and that’s why I started sharing my story on Instagram. "I was asked to do loads of interviews about it, but the problem is, they can twist what you say, and it can come across so different to what you said and how you meant it. So, I thought if I just say it myself on my social media and talk about it honestly, then it’s in my words. And the messages I get are just amazing; people have been fantastic," she says. Beverley, 69, had just moved here in the new year to start work on Fair City when she got her cancer diagnosis, and she had to go back to England to undergo surgery. She was due to be taking a break from Fair City in April and May to do a play back in the UK, but unfortunately, she had to pull out. Despite the setbacks in her health, she has been amazed by the outpouring of love and support from the Irish public since she moved here. The initial plan was to travel over and back to her home in the UK, while she filmed Fair City, but the couple instantly fell in love with Ireland and decided to make it a more permanent move. "I’m still overwhelmed with the welcome we’ve had from people in Ireland. When we came over in January, it was for a month of filming, and both Jon and I were so blown away at how decent people have been to us, truly. Now, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. We’ve had so much help, loving messages; it’s incredible," she says with genuine emotion. RTÉ Guide Beverley shocked fans of Coronation Street in 2020 when she announced she was leaving the famous Manchester soap, after 30 years of playing Liz, wife to Jim and mother to twins, Steve and Andy. It wasn’t the first time she’d left the soap; she previously quit in 1998 to pursue roles in the theatre, before returning in 2003. "It was my choice to go. I left because I didn’t feel that Liz was getting great storylines any more," she explains. "Of course, it’s easy to just stay and take the cheque at the end of the month, but I thought I’m going to jump and see what happens. "It was a massive decision, but I’m really lucky that since I’ve left, I’ve been really busy, but I’ve also had more time to be with Jon and my family, so I’ve more of a work-life balance now. Another good thing about Fair City is you can do other things. You’re allowed to do other things within your contract time; with Coronation Street, you’re not allowed to do anything else unless it’s with ITV," she adds. She’s been working on other projects since leaving the cobbles and was hesitant to get tied into another long-term soap role when a mutual friend suggested a role in Fair City last year. "I said I was flattered to be asked but that I wasn’t keen to be in something long-term again after being in Coronation Street for 30 years," she explains. "I didn’t know if I wanted that life again. So they said, just watch it, so I did that, and I got Jon to watch it as well, and I became addicted to it, and I thought, I can’t say no to this. I think the writing is so good, and I love the way that it’s about people and people’s lives. So, I said yes, and I’m so pleased I did," she says enthusiastically. "I’m loving the atmosphere of Fair City. I love the scripts, love all the writing, the cast and crew have been fantastic. Some of them already have been around to our house in Wicklow, it’s been great." After playing such an iconic soap character for so long, she was worried that viewers would find it hard to see her as anything but Liz, but thankfully, she says, that hasn’t been the case. "I did wonder would people accept me as a new character, even though Lily is very different to Liz," she says. "I was very nervous about it and nervous about the reaction, but it’s been amazing. I got mobbed in a coffee shop in Wicklow recently, and this lady said to me, I don’t know if I should call you Beverley, Liz or Lilly and I loved that," she laughs. Beverley Callard Poses Outside The Rovers during The Soap's 50th Anniversary Year. (Photo by Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images) Lily has come into Carrigstown as the long-lost mother of Gwen (Emily Lamey) and is already causing drama as the new resident. Beverley says she’s a joy to play. "I think she’s great and she’s got so much more to come. She’s got a great sense of humour, and she’s very feisty, but quite vulnerable as well; the audience haven’t seen that side of her yet, but they will. So, she’s got the whole gamut of emotions, which I love." She was toying with the idea of having an Irish accent, but stuck with her own one. "I love the accent; I would have loved Lily to be Irish, but if I dropped a vowel or something, people might have picked up on it." Before Lily, Beverley had only ever been to Ireland for award ceremonies. I remark that it’s quite a big life change and decision to make. "I don’t think we thought about it at the beginning," she replies. "When I got the diagnosis, it does change your life in some way. The plan wasn’t to fully move here, but Jon had been in to see me doing a scene, which he’s done many times at Coronation Street. He said it's so apparent that I just love this, that I come to life when I’m on set. But it became apparent to us that going back and forth would be difficult, so we decided, since we both loved it so much here, that we’d stay – life's too short, so we took the leap of faith," she adds. Beverley and Jon have five children between them (she has two from previous relationships and he has three). It’s very much a blended family, and she says they can’t wait to have them all over to visit the new place. "I’ll be sick of having visitors," she laughs. "We’ve five kids between us. They’re all grown up, but they all want to come together. Dublin has such a wonderful reputation; they can’t wait, especially my two grandsons, who are 18 and 20." Beverley, who grew up in Morley, West Yorkshire, fell in love with acting at a young age. She did a school play at the age of seven and was hooked. "I knew then that I didn’t want to do anything else. My parents thought I should be sensible and get a proper job, but of course, I didn’t," she laughs. Beverley on Corrie She made her television debut in the Yorkshire Television soap, Emmerdale Farm, as Angie Richards in 1983. In 1984, Beverley played Gail and Brian Tilsley's friend June Dewhurst in Coronation Street. In 1989, she returned to the series in the more significant role of Liz McDonald. I ask her if she keeps in touch with her Corrie cast mates? "Absolutely," she answers. "It sounds really twee, but the people that you work with every day really do become like your family because you tend to see them more than you see your own family. So, I have friends for life from Corrie; Charlie Lawson, who played Jim, is coming over to see me soon. We’re still very close," she answers. On the show, the character left Weatherfield to live with son, Andy, in Spain. Could she ever be lured back to the cobbles, or has that door closed? "They’ve asked me a couple of times, and, obviously, I’m flattered to be asked, but certainly not right now. I’d never say never to anything, you never know, but I’m just loving Fair City," Beverley replies. Since Easter, Beverley has also been winning over viewers with her appearance on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here: All Stars! The show was filmed in South Africa last year. At the time of our interview, we don’t know who won, but, unfortunately, Beverley had to leave the camp before the end of the series due to what she called at the time a "funny turn", adding she had no idea she was battling breast cancer. She previously appeared on the reality show in 2020 when it took place in a Welsh castle during the Covid pandemic – with the actress coming in 10th place. She’s been butting heads with fellow contestant and boxer David Haye, whom she describes as "ageist and sexist." RTÉ Guide The show, however, she says, has been "the experience of a lifetime. I’ve not watched myself on screen for over 20 years, but everyone was saying I had to watch it, and I really enjoyed the programme. We had such a laugh." As our conversation comes to an end, we agree to meet again for a coffee, and she invites me out to see her house in Wicklow when it’s finished. It feels like the invite is genuine. As much as she loves the Irish people, I think the feeling is mutual. She’s someone who's not afraid to take chances, which is what has led her to Fair City and life in Wicklow; as she admits, this has always been her way. "Mum used to say to me, 'Beverley, you’re such a risk taker, you don’t need to be like that’. I don’t know where I get that from. I think I’m a bit bonkers," she laughs. "But as they say, you only regret the things you don’t do."

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