Beverley Callard knew what she wanted to do with her life from a very early age. “I was in my first play at school when I was seven,” she recalls. “The play was Darius the Page Boy and I played the title role of Darius. I knew then I didn’t want to do anything else. I absolutely loved it. In every school play, I played the lead.
“I was sporty as well, but at swimming galas, I’d be terrified. At sports day, I’d be terrified. When you’re opening a play, of course, it’s terrifying. On your first night, you think: ‘Why am I doing this?’ But it’s the best job in the world. When the audience laughs in the right place, there’s no feeling like it.”
Beverley was inspired by the best. “When I was growing up, I really admired Bette Davis,” she says of the Academy Award-winning Hollywood star best known for classic movies such as Now, Voyager and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? “My mum used to make us watch her films. She loved old films.
“I loved Bette Davis. And Glenda Jackson – one of the greatest actresses of all time. Judi Dench, too. I did think: ‘I want to be like them...’ I wanted to be Bette Davis – I wanted to play Baby Jane!”
Now Beverley has left Coronation Street and said ‘ta-ra’ to matriarch Liz McDonald after 32 years on and off, new challenges are in sight. Her first is Pauline, the gloriously dreadful and very funny mum in Gold’s new comedy Newark, Newark.
As her daughter Maxine (Morgana Robinson) celebrates her 40th, Pauline counsels her to go back to her revolting ex, Terry (Gavin & Stacey star Mathew Horne), with less-than-supportive words. “You don’t want to be single at this age. He’s got a job. He’s got his own teeth. What else do you want?” Her aim is to reunite them.
“She’s brilliant to play, but horrible,” Beverley laughs. “It gives me poetic licence to do whatever I want. All the episodes are so funny. I just couldn’t say no. It really was a joyous experience.”
There was one drawback, though. Her look – featuring heavy make-up and man-made fibres in abundance – was no improvement on Liz McDonald’s. “There’s a lot of polyester and an awful lot of viscose,” Beverley sighs. You can’t stand near a naked flame, then? “Definitely not,” she laughs.
“I can’t wait to play someone who’s got no make-up. I always look horrendous in a dressed-up way,” she laughs. “In real life, I walk around in tracky bottoms or combats with no make-up. I’d love to play someone who wears nice clothes, too, but I get lumbered with characters with the worst dress sense in the world.”
Beverley found her own soulmate with her fourth husband Jon McEwan, a recording studio owner. They’ve been together for 22 years and married for almost 12. With five grown-up children between them and four grandchildren ranging from five months to 16, they are – she jokes – “like the Waltons.”
Celebrating her 65th birthday this month, Beverley admits she’s more content and confident at this stage of life. “The numbers don’t bother me that much,” she says. “If I were feeling unwell, I’d be worried, but I feel good. Maybe there’s less pressure. I feel more able to just be me–it doesn’t matter what people think. It’s quite liberating.” As was leaving Corrie.
“You can have new adventures at any age and I’m somebody who feels the fear and does it anyway,” she says. “I loved doing I’m A Celeb – I never thought I would say that. We’re all still friends. We had the best time, aside from the cold, the trials and the bugs!”
Having combined a career on stage and screen with another passion – working as a fitness instructor – Beverley seems a great fit for another reality show, too, Strictly.
After Corrie, Beverley was set to waltz her way into the dance contest, but had to withdraw when a minor hip operation went wrong. She was unable to walk for five months and another op was needed to repair damage. “I love Strictly, but I don’t know whether they’d ask me again,” she says. “I’d love a go.”
Her op (and Covid) meant she didn’t get a big exit from the soap that made her name, but she won’t return for a swan song. “It’s not because I’ve fallen out of love with it, I’m flattered they’ve asked me to go back, but it’s not me anymore,” she says.
“It didn’t give me the same buzz, so it was the right time to go. Liz has run her course.” So what’s next?. “I’d love to travel more. My daughter and I went to New York just before Covid. I’d never been to America. We absolutely loved it. I just want to keep on working. That’s what I want more than anything.”
Beverley stars in Newark, Newark on Gold from Monday, March 28 at 9pm
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