Beverley Callard: who is the Leeds-born Coronation Street actress taking part in I’m A Celebrity 2020 - and full contestant line-up

I’m a Celeb will be back on our screens from Sunday, 15 November as it celebrates 20 years on air
Beverley has given up her leopard print  shirt for a giletBeverley has given up her leopard print  shirt for a gilet
Beverley has given up her leopard print shirt for a gilet

The show will feature Leeds’ very own Beverley Callard, best known as the Rovers Return Inn barmaid, Liz MacDonald, from Coronation Street.

This year she will be hanging up her leopard print as she takes on bush tucker trials from Gwrych castle in North Wales - a far cry from the sunny forests of New South Wales.

Here’s everything you need to know about Bev.

Who is she?

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Born Beverley Jane Moxon in 1957, Beverley Callard is now a famous soap star on ITV’s Coronation Street.

The mother-of-two was born in Morley, Leeds, but now lives with her fourth husband and his son in Eccles, Greater Manchester.

The 63-year-old actress has married four times, with daughter Rebecca from her first marriage and son Joshua from her third.

Bev has had her fair share of onscreen and offscreen battles, as Liz has been the victim of domestic abuse, infidelity, harassment and kidnap.

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In her private life, Beverley had a hysterectomy in 1991 after doctors found cancerous cells in her cervix, and she also suffers from clinical depression.

Beverley has spoken publicly about her battle with depression - notably on ITV’s This Morning programme - and has referred to it as "curse of the strong".

This is believed to have stemmed from several nervous breakdowns around the time her salary was cut by 40% by ITV bosses due to the 2008 credit crunch.

How is she feeling about castle life?

Bev told how she most fears “ghosts and insects” - a great start for any contestant.

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She expects that viewers think she is primed and pretty, joking: “people think I am glamorous as I have played Liz for so long but I am not."

Of the new, chillier, location, Bev expressed her disappointment of filming in Wales.

She said: "I have got nothing against Wales, please please, everybody in Wales, don’t think that I have.

"But I am gutted it’s not in Australia… only me! And I hate the cold, I’m rubbish in the cold."

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The Corrie star dreads leaving her husband, Jon. She had previously made comments about missing her dog, however her pooch - Norman - sadly passed away on November 4, just 10 days before she is due to appear on the show.

What did she do before Coronation Street?

Callard has starred on British soap operas since her onscreen debut in 1983 as Angie Richards.

Prior to this, she had performed in theatre as Jaqui Coryton in Noël Coward's Hay Fever, Liz and Rita in Billy Liar and The Wicked Queen in Snow White.

Her career took off when she was first cast as Liz MacDonald in Corrie, but this was not the first time she had featured in the popular dinner time soap opera.

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In 1984, Bev was cast as June Dewhurst in Coronation Street.

On 27 October 1989, her days behind the bar of the Rovers Return began and she served for almost a decade before she took a career break in 1998.

By 2003, Liz Macdonald was back on our screens and she has remained a regular cast member since, with various short departures in between.

During her time on the show, she became close friends with Anne Kirkbride, Deidre Barlow,and spoke of her devastation when her ‘work sister’ passed away from cancer in 2015, an illness she had also fought.

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She has also played the role of Mari Hoff in stage tours of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and was cast in the 2019 production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Liverpool Empire.

Callard has already announced that she will be leaving Coronation Street in 2021.

Who are the other contestants?

Alongside Beverley will be a mix of famous faces.

Viewers can expect to see Olympians Mo Farrah and Hollie Arnold, Radios 1’s Jordan North, TV presenters Vernon Kay and Victoria Derbyshire, author and podcast host Giovanna Fletcher, Strictly’s AJ Pritchard and Eastenders actors Shane Richie and Jessica Plummer.

When will I’m A Celebrity be on TV?

Bev will join Ant and Dec on the ITV show, due to air on Sunday at 9pm.

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