Footballers’ Wives was a saucy ITV primetime drama that perfectly captured the rising world of the “WAGs” (wives and girlfriends of sportsmen) in the early 2000s.
If anything, it was ahead of its time. Take a snapshot of most footballers and their partners these days, and you’ll find real life versions of Jason Turner or Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe.
The iconic series was incredibly raunchy for a primetime TV slot and the nation was hooked on the behind–the–scenes exploits at Earls Park FC.
It ran for five series from 2002, and spawned an even racier spin-off Extra Time on ITV2 for two series.
Daily Star Online have taken a sneak peak at what some of the Footballers’ Wives cast members have been up to since the final whistle back in 2006 (Image: Carlton TV)
From burned boobs and swapped babies to bonking the manager to death, there was no shortage of drama on Footballer’s Wives.
While fans campaign for ITV to bring it back, Daily Star Online has take a look at what some of the cast members have been up to since leaving the show.
Tanya Turner (played by Zoe Lucker)
Tanya Turner loved to have extremely-long acrylic nails and plot the downfall of others
As the wicked witch of the WAGs, super b**ch Tanya Turner loved to plot the downfall of others.
The blonde bombshell’s life was filled with drama from bed-hopping to murder – with a hefty amount of back-stabbing thrown in for good measure.
Who can forget when Tanya Turner decided to sh*g the manager of Earls Park FC to death?
After leaving Footballers’ Wives, bad girl Tanya fittingly popped up in jailbird drama Bad Girls, serving hard time after being caught red-handed with her precious narcs.
In real life, actress Zoe struggles to watch some of the X-rated antics Tanya got up to.
Actress Zoe struggles to watch some of the x-rated antics Tanya got up to (Image: Getty Images for Nickelodeon)
“I can’t believe I did some of those sex scenes – I’d never do that now,” the TV star told The Mirror in March this year.
“I was semi-naked most of the time.
She added: “I’m very grateful for the role, but afterwards I took myself out of the limelight for a while.
“I did some theatre in New Zealand and I did some volunteer work in Zambia. I’m very happy not to have that level of fame now.”
Zoe, now 46, went on to star in EastEnders and Hollyoaks but quit in 2016 to spend more time with her daughter Lily, 11, and husband James Herbert.
Amber Gates (played by Laila Rouass)
Laila Rouass joined the cast of Footballers’ Wives as Amber Gates during the third season of the raunchy ITV drama
Laila Rouass found fame as Tanya Tuner’s love rival Amber Gates in Footballers’ Wives having joined in series three.
In 2009, she had a recurring role in ITV’s Primeval, and went on to feature in The Sarah Jane Adventures, Spooks, Holby City and The Lodge.
Away from acting, the actress had a child with businessman Nasir Khan in 2007, and later got engaged to snooker icon Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2013.
Laila was caught up in the Barcelona terrorist attack in August 2017 writing on Twitter during the incident that she was hiding in a restaurant freezer.
At least 13 were killed and dozens injured after a man drove a van into crowds of people on the tourist street, Las Ramblas.
The actress got engaged to snooker icon Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2013 (Image: Roland Leon Sunday Mirror)
The actress was on holiday in the city at the time with her family.
Laila recounted her ordeal on Twitter in a series of posts.
“In the middle of the attack,” she wrote just after the incident had started.
“Hiding in a restaurant freezer. Happened so fast. Praying for the safety of everyone here.”
Laila, now 48, said at the time that she heard gunshots while inside a restaurant near Las Ramblas.
Kyle Pascoe (played by Gary Lucy)
Kyle Pascoe was main man at Earls Park FC (Image: ITV)
Gary was already famous when he landed the role of Earls Park heartthrob Kyle, 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 strip off 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 the fourth eliminated.
Gary is now found playing Luke Morgan in Hollyoaks (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The actor married his wife Natasha Gray on 16 November 2014 and was covered and featured with a magazine deal with OK!, much like Kyle’s wedding to Chardonnay.
Gary, now 38, and Natasha have four children and in November 2018 it was announced that the pair had separated.
Along with being an actor, Gary is also a business owner.
He previously owned a property company called Gary Lucy Real Estate and he currently owns Driving Lessons Finder, which is an internet directory of driving schools. He has also invested in a number of properties.
Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe (played by Susie Amy)
Susie Am was voted as number 74 on the FHM list of 100 Sexiest Women in the World back in her hey day (Image: PDUnknown)
Footballers’ Wives fans are still not quite over Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe getting killed off before her time at the start of series three.
Susie was cast as Kyle Pascoe’s glamour model wife Chardonnay in the ITV series Footballers’ Wives, which made her a household name and earned her the New TV Talent Award by the Television and Radio Industries Club.
The actress was voted as number 74 on the FHM list of 100 Sexiest Women in the World in 2002, and as number 63 in 2003.
Along with Katharine Monaghan and Zöe Lucker, Amy appeared on the FHM cover for February 2003.
In recent years, Susie has popped up in Doctors again, as well as Death In Paradise, Casualty and Holby City.
The actress welcomed her first child to the world last year (Image: Instagram)
In 2018, Susie, now 39, was reunited on-screen with Gary Lucy when she landed a guest role on Hollyoaks as Scarlett, the ex-wife of Gary’s character Luke Morgan.
Susie gave birth to a baby girl, Noah Liberty Jane Bar, earlier this year.
The proud mum took to her personal Instagram account to share a sweet snap of her cuddling her first child in hospital, just a few hours after her birth.
Susie welcomed her newborn daughter to the world with her actor boyfriend Raphael Bar on January 17.
Hazel Bailey (played by Alison Newman)
Haze Bailey kept the Earls Park FC players in check with her no-nonsense attitude (Image: Shed Productions)
Alison Newman played ruthless agent and later club chairman Hazel in Footballers’ Wives, and later had various one-off roles on TV, including episodes of Holby City and Casualty.
Her next famous role was as DI Keeble, who famously investigated the “Who killed Lucy Beale?” case in EastEnders in 2014, having previously appeared back in 2008.
Since then, Alison has featured in New Tricks, Whitechapel and Call the Midwife. She has also had many roles on stage.
In a memorable social media moment in 2015, Alison had Twitter beef with US rapper Azealia Banks.
Alison has since appeared in EastEnders since the end of Footballers’ Wives (Image: TV Grab)
The actress found herself on the receiving end of jibes from the ‘212’ hitmaker, who had been making yet more eyebrow-raising comments about the LGBT community on her Twitter page.
Azelia told Alison, now 52, to “Botox those frown lines. Juvederm those lips. Get a tan. YIKES” but it didn’t appear that Alison was particularly fazed by the rapper’s remarks.
Darius Fry (played by Peter Ash)
Peter joined the Footballers’ Wives cast as Tanya Turner’s toyboy Darius Fry at the age of 17 (Image: Shed)
Darius Fry was one of Earls Park’s teenage soccer sensations, who worshipped his more experienced teammates but was nowhere near as cool as then.
Peter joined the Footballers’ Wives cast as Tanya Turner’s toyboy at the age of 17 but once the show ended it was back down to earth with a bang, and the reality of life and an out of work actor.
The TV star told The Mirror: “You have to do other stuff in between to pay the bills.
“I was a driver for a while, picking up cars driving them around the country.
“You do anything and everything – but you also have to find something flexible so that you can go for auditions, and then if you get a job you might need a few weeks off for filming.
The actor took home the National Television Award for Best Newcomer earlier this year for his portrayal as Paul Forman in Coronation Street (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“So it is hard, as there aren’t many jobs where you can do that.”
Peter is now known for playing cheeky chappy Paul Foreman on ITV soap Coronation Street.
The 35-year-old actor took home the National Television Award for Best Newcomer earlier this year.
Peter thanked his mum, dad, girlfriend and son in his acceptance speech and the Corrie writers who have responsible for his abuse storyline, as well as Manchester charity Survivors who he worked closely with on the plot.
Bruno Milligan (played by Ben Richards)
Ben Richards joined the cast of Footballers’ Wives as Bruno Milligan after a successful West End Career
Ben Richards joined the cast of Footballers’ Wives in the fourth series as Bruno Milligan after a successful West End career.
The hunky actor joined Hollyoaks after Footballers’ Wives wrapped as regular Ben Bradley before leaving a year later.
Ben has continued to appear in various theatre and musical roles, including 9 to 5, The Bodyguard, and Peter Pan.
In 2012, The TV star revealed that he had been diagnosed with bowel cancer.
He spoke publicly about his illness in an interview in Hello! magazine.
The TV star revealed that he had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012 and has been in remission since 2013 (Image: WireImage)
Ben said that doctors had discovered a six centimetre tumour. Prior to his diagnosis, he had been ignoring the symptoms.
His doctors also predicted that he would make a full recovery, while his treatment was due to finish later that year.
Ben has been in remission since January 2013 and soon became a patron of the awareness charity, Bowel Cancer UK. He is also a patron for the UK charity Chestnut Tree House.
The actor, now 48, later began a relationship with the television presenter Kirsty Duffy who gave birth to their first child, daughter Freja Amelie, in 2015.
Shannon Donnelly-Lawson (played by Sarah Barrand)
Shannon Donnelly and Harley Lawson were apparently a parody of childhood sweethearts Wayne and Coleen Rooney
Sarah Barrand joined the cast in series three as footballer Harley Donnelly’s girlfriend Shannon, reportedly a parody of Wayne Rooney’s other half Coleen.
The actress has only had a small amount of low-profile roles since the final whistle was blown on the drama.
In 2006, Sarah co-hosted a two-part documentary for ITV with Zoe Lucker, in which they met the Dalai Lama.
She has since worked as a voiceover artist for TV and radio.
Sarah appeared to poke fun at Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy’s WAGatha Christie scandal by posting a meme on social media last year (Image: PA)
Last year, Sarah appeared to poke fun at Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy’s WAGatha Christie scandal by posting a meme on social media.
The extremely public spat between the wives of Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy was understandably likened to a storyline from Footballers’ Wives.
Fans of the show were delighted when the show’s writer Liz Lake appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to discuss the spat during which, she joked about a reboot of the iconic drama.
As well as Liz’s discussion, Sarah, now 34, shared dramatic throwback clips from her Footballers’ Wives days making reference to Coleen’s and Rebekah’s row.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
