Footballers' Wives 1
| Monday 27 February 2012 13:40
Footballers' Wives 1
ON: Fridays (Starts: 9th March ‘12)
AT: 22:00 on SABC3
EPISODES: 8
GENRE: Foreign Drama
They're young, they're rich, they're sexy, and they've got everything that fame and money can buy. As the wives of players on the soccer team known as the Sparks, they should be having the time of their lives ... but the reality is very different. Three couples Donna and Ian Walmsley, Tanya and Jason Turner and Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe and Kyle Pascoe deal with marriage, sex, drugs, high fashion, fast cars, staggering salaries, catfights, mansions, copious affairs and life in the celebrity spotlight.
In season I, while Ian anticipates success as the Sparks' latest signing, Donna is more concerned with getting their son back from the woman who adopted him after Donna was forced to give him up when she was a teenager. Donna's visiting younger sister Marie causes trouble by having flings with Sparks midfielder and ruthless bad boy Jason, despite his marriage to beautiful yet vile Tanya. After team owner Frank Laslett buys star player Sal Biagi and replaces Jason, the Turners get into a drunken brawl with Frank, who ends up comatose. Meanwhile, the Walmsleys eight-year-old daughter is kidnapped.
Meet the Cast
Gillian Taylforth - Jackie Pascoe
Gillian Taylforth (born 14 August 1955 in London) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Kathy Mitchell (formerly Kathy Beale) on the BBC soap opera, EastEnders (1985–2000) and as Jackie Pascoe-Webb on ITV's Footballers Wives (2002–2006), but more recently as Sgt. Nikki Wright in ITV's The Bill (2006–2008). Away from television acting, she has appeared in film during her early career, and has presented on ITV's Loose Women as well as appearing as a celebrity contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008. Taylforth's relationship with Geoff Knight spanned 23 years and was heavily focused upon in the media due to his reported abusive behaviour. In 1994, Taylforth sued The Sun newspaper for libel after they ran a story claiming she had been caught by police performing a sexual act on Knight in their car; she lost the court case.
Zoe Lucker - Tanya Turner
Yorkshire-born Zoe Lucker has been on our screens a lot in recent years in TV dramas such as "Holby City", "Trial & Retribution: Episode #4.1" (2000), Barabara, Brazen Hussies (1996) (TV) and "Coronation Street" (1960), where she played Sonia Leech, owner of the beauty parlour where Raquel worked.
But it's her role as Tanya Turner in "Footballers' Wives" (2002) that she really loves. She adores her character ("We're both survivors, but I wouldn't use people the way she does to get on in life"), the stunning clothes, and the dramatic scenes with screen husband Cristian Solimeno - and she's even learnt to live with her extra-long fake fingernails. The only part she hated was filming the opening sequence in a pool because, probably just like Tanya, she's not keen on swimming and prefers to keep her head above water. However, 28-year-old Lucker really is keen on football, and once bid successfully at a charity auction for a tour of Leeds United football ground.
Alison Newman - Hazel Bailey
Alison was born in January 1968. She didn't work professionally in the acting business until ten years after she graduated from drama school. During that time, she worked in the music industry, as well as working as a barmaid to make ends meet. Her big break came when she played the evil Renee Williams in "Bad Girls" (1999), but she is best known for her portrayal of Hazel Bailey in "Footballers' Wives" (2002). She is quickly becoming recognised as a versatile and gifted actress with a bright future ahead in the industry.
Gary Lucy - Kyle Pascoe
Lucy cut his acting teeth in shows like Grange Hill and Dream Team before getting the role that brought him to public attention, Luke Morgan in Hollyoaks. In this teen soap Lucy undertook a male rape storyline, for which he won the Best Newcomer Award at the 2000 British Soap Awards. Lucy then went on to do three series of the ITV drama Footballers' Wives where he played Kyle Pascoe, a football player for fictional club Earl's Park. This gave him an even higher profile with the British public, partly due to the role and partly due to his offset tabloid escapades. In 2004 Lucy starred as Michael Sands alongside Ray Winstone in the ITV drama She's Gone. From 2005-10, he portrayed DS Will Fletcher in ITV's The Bill, and appeared in Sky1's The Match. In 2008 ITV commissioned a one-off special called I Love Lucy 2K8, essentially a continuation of the popular "An Audience with..." series. Lucy recounted several showbiz anecdotes, did a dance routine with his The Bill colleague Trudie Goodwin and sang "I Got You Babe", with Gillian Taylforth. In 2009 he took part in the one-off ITV drama, Whatever It Takes. The same year he resigned from The Bill. He took part as a contestant in the fifth series of ITV's Dancing on Ice, paired with series regular Maria Fillipov. On 28 March 2010, Lucy made the finale finishing as runner-up to bookies favourite Hayley Tamaddon. He appeared as Ben Lloyd on BBC One's Missing, which aired on 29 November 2010.
Susie Amy - Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe
Susie Amy was born in London in 1981, and brought up in Surrey. Although she always studied drama, she went to academic schools all her life. An agent spotted her in 1999 when she was doing a play at the National Theatre in London - 'After Juliet' by Sharman McDonald. Over the next two years she got parts in _"Sirens" (2002) (mini)_, the sitcom 'Sam's Game', 'The Swap' and 'My Family’. In 2001, at the age of 20, she got her first big break when she was chosen to play 'Chardonnay Lane' in ITV drama "Footballers' Wives" (2002), which became one of the most talked about shows on TV. In 2002, after filming a second series of Footballers Wives, she was chosen for the lead role of 'Valentine D'Artagnan' in the Hallmark Production - _"La Femme Musketeer" (2003) (mini)_, starring alongside Michael York, Gérard Depardieu and Nastassja Kinski. For the role she had to train in martial arts, fencing and horse riding, which she is said to have loved.
Cristian Solimeno - Jason Turner
Cristian Solimeno (born 27 April 1975 in London) is an English actor. He has played Jason Turner in Footballers Wives, and has also had a number of guest roles in other British television series, and appeared in the 2000 film Dead Babies, 2005 Happy New Year special of The Vicar of Dibley and the 2006 series Strictly Confidential. He was The Guardian in Highlander: The Source.
John Forgeham - Frank Laslett
John Forgeham is a British actor best known for his role as businessman Frank Laslett in the television drama series Footballers' Wives, from 2002-2004. Forgeham also appeared in Mean Machine Feb. 22, 2002; Kiss of the Dragon Jul. 6, 2001; Remember Me? Jan. 1, 1999 and L'Inchiesta Oct. 27, 1986
Julie Legrand - Jeanette Dunkley
Julie Legrand (born in Pitlochry, Scotland) is a British television, film, and stage actress best known for her role as Jeanette Dunkley on Footballers' Wives and Footballers' Wives: Extra Time. On both of these television shows, she is credited as a main cast member Along with her television work, Legrand has had numerous success within theatre, most recently in See How They Run and has also starred in Fiddler on the Roof in the West End at The Savoy theatre and as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, along with the films One for the Road, Prick Up Your Ears, and Water. She also toured Britain in the RSC's Romeo and Juliet as The Nurse. She is currently playing the role of Madame Morrible in the West End production of Wicked. She began performances on March 29, 2010, replacing Harriet Thorpe.
Daniel Schutzmann - Salvatore Biagi
Daniel Schutzmann (born 6 December 1970 in Amsterdam, Netherlands) is an actor. He is a fan of football and a big Arsenal Football Club fan. He is most popular for his role as Italian football player, Salvatore Biagi, on the ITV drama, Footballers' Wives and for his current role as Marty Green on River City. Schutzmann has also appeared in a number of episodes of the Australian soap opera Neighbours during a storyline filmed in London. He played another footballer Pete Gartside, the boyfriend of Izzy Hoyland (played by Natalie Bassingthwaighte). Recently he has appeared as a waiter in Coronation Street in scenes involving Carla Connor's hen party.
Nathan Constance - Ian Walmsley
Nathan Constance (born 7 January 1979 in London) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Ian Walmsley in the TV series Footballers' Wives, Leon Richards in the TV series Dream Team and as Josh Mitchell in the TV series Bad Girls. Amongst his film roles is Ike in the 2008 film Adulthood, the sequel to the 2006 film Kidulthood, and Chum in the 2006 film London to Brighton. In 2009, he portrayed DC Connor in the BBC One series Hunter.
Katharine Monaghan - Donna Walmsley
Katherine Monaghan (born 1980) is a British actress best known for her on the television drama series Footballers' Wives, from 2002-2003. 2006. Katharine’s acting credits include Angel Cake, 55 Degrees North and Judge John Deed.
Philip Bretherton - Stefan Hauser
Philip Bretherton (born 30 May 1955) is an English actor best known for his role as Alistair Deacon in the British television series As Time Goes By. Bretherton was born in Preston, Lancashire and studied English and drama at the University of Manchester, where he decided to become an actor. Bretherton made a brief appearance as "Rod" in Coronation Street in 1988. He then returned as "Robert Weston" in 1991, and again as "Ian Davenport" in 2004. Bretherton appeared in Casualty as Andrew Bower (Lisa "Duffy" Duffin's husband), Footballer's Wives as Stefan Hauser, New Tricks as Doug Standeven. He also appeared in an episode of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, "The Problem of Thor Bridge" in 1990 as Mr. Joyce Cummings Q.C. He has appeared in Series 1 of Murder in Suburbia, as Phillip Whitmore. He is also active in theatre, recently performing in a nationally acclaimed production of Pygmalion, as Henry Higgins, in Clwyd Theatre Cymru, Mold, Flintshire.
Sam Graham - Archie Malloch
Sams acting credits include, 2006 Fingersmith TV Show Series, 1998 The Secret Of Nimh 2 Movie, Writer;
1996 Night Of The Twisters Movie, Writer and 1988 Oliver & Company
Micaiah Dring - Marie Minshull
Born:1983 in Nottingham, England, UK
Issued by: SABC3 Publicity Tel: 011 714 6269/ Email: domingod@sabc.co.za /www.sabc3.co.za
