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BeverleyCallard

Beverley Callard

Beverley Callard was born Beverley Jane Moxon on 28th March 1957 in Leeds. She is the elder daughter of two to a baker and a concert pianist and was first married at the age of sixteen to Paul Atkinson, with who she had a daughter, Rebecca, born in 1976 (who has since also followed in her mother's steps to become an actress). Having left school to become a shorthand typist Beverley soon turned to acting and her first work was on the stage as a member of the Leeds Proscenium Players.

Her second husband was teacher David Sowden and it was under the name "Beverley Sowden" that she made her television debut in Emmerdale Farm in 1983 and then first appeared in Coronation Street in 1984 as June Dewhurst, wife of Gary Dewhurst, a friend of Brian Tilsley.

In 1989 she married third husband Steven Callard (who she has since divorced) and in the same year she returned to Coronation Street in the new regular role of Liz McDonald, wife of ex-army sergeant Jim McDonald and new owners of 11 Coronation Street. Making her debut in Episode 2984 (27th October 1989), the McDonald family, with twin sons, Andy and Steve moved into their new house in December of that year (Beverley and screen husband Charles Lawson were involved in the auditioning of the Nicholas Cochrane and Simon Gregson to play Andy and Steve, a process that she found "nerve-wracking").

After nine incident-packed years in the role, Beverley left the programme in October 1998 to concentrate on making a lucrative series of keep-fit videos and appear in her own satellite TV fitness show.

After moving briefly to Spain in 2000 to avoid the taxman, she returned to the programme for short periods from 2000 to 2001 and in 2003 and 2004, before later returning as a regular that summer. In between these stints she appeared in other roles on television starring in programmes such as The Peter Principle and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps as well as appearing in Casualty and The Bill.

In late 2010 she had a hiatus from Coronation Street and spent some time as a panelist on Loose Women.

In October 2010, it was confirmed that Liz (who was now the landlady of the Rovers), would be leaving the Street once more as Callard quit as a regular for a second time. She subsequently made her final appearance in Episode 7577 (14th April 2011) when viewers saw Liz leave Weatherfield to live with her son Andy in Spain following a failed bid to buy the pub outright. Beverley had not however ruled out making another return sometime in the future, and on 30th May 2013, it was confirmed she was set to reprise her iconic role for a six-month stint later in the year. The character returned in October 2013.

After playing the role for six years, it was announced in late-2019 that Callard would once again be leaving the show, with plans for her to film her final scenes around mid-2020. Complications arose however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the indefinite suspension of filming in March 2020 as the United Kingdom went into lockdown. Despite reports that Callard would still film her final scenes, she ended up making her final appearance in June 2020, with Liz departing off-screen later that year to immigrate to Spain. Although Callard claimed she wanted to reprise the role briefly in 2021 to give the character a proper send-off, it was reported in February of that year that she was out of the show for good.

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