FICTIONAL drama Footballers’ Wives came out in 2002 – and the British public loved it so much that some of the stars who found fame on the pitch went on to become soap icons just years later.

The ITV series, which was based on real stories written by WAG Shelley Webb, gave viewers a glimpse into what being a footballer’s other half really looks like.

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It was so popular that even when it stopped airing four years after it started, cast members did not need to worry about being out of a job for long.

Many of the actors went on to find new roles in another British television staple: soap operas. Here is a list of five Footballers’ Wives stars who went from WAGS to wiches – or at least to Weatherfield.

Susie Amy (Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe)

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Susie played Kyle Pascoe’s troubled wife, whose untimely exit from the show at the beginning of season three left fans devastated.

The character died of anorexia after a long feud with her mother-in-law Jackie.

She became a household name thanks to the role, and even won the New TV Talent Award from the Television and Radio Industries Club.

Susie went on to reunite with her on-screen husband – played by Gary Lucy – when she joined Hollyoaks in 2018.

Zoe Lucker (Tanya Turner)

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As the scheming queen bee of Footballers’ Wives, Tanya Turner became infamous for her dramatic antics – from backstabbing to bed-hopping, and even murder.

Her twisted character was so popular that Zoe reprised the role in the prison drama Bad Girls.

Following her success in both shows, the actress transitioned to mainstream soaps.

She started off by playing Max Branning’s lover Vanessa Gold in EastEnders for a year.

Zoe then went on to star in Hollyoaks as crime family matriarch Reenie McQueen.

Gary Lucy (Kyle Pascoe)

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This actor is one of the exceptions, as he was already a household name when he joined Footballers’ Wives.

Gary previously starred in Hollyoaks as footballer Luke Morgan, where his character’s powerful storyline involved being raped by a rival.

Before stepping into the glitzy world of Earls Park, Gary also appeared in the football drama Dream Team, making him a natural fit for the role of Kyle.

He went on to have a stint on EastEnders as Investment Consultant Danny Pennant from 2012 to 2014.

Then, after a 15 year break from the soap, Gary finally went back to Hollyoaks in 2017.

Gillian Taylforth (Jackie Pascoe-Webb)

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Gillian was also in the same boat as Gary, and had an illustrious career playing Kathy Beale on EastEnders for 15 years before going on Footballers’ Wives.

She played Kyle’s mother Jackie who secretly got pregnant by Tanya’s husband Jason, the Earls Park champion striker.

However, much to the surprise of viewers, she went on to marry the club’s manager.

Some time after Jackie and Kyle headed off to Australia together, Gillian went on to get a part in Hollyoaks as nurse Sandy Roscoe.

Peter Ash (Darius Fry)

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Peter kicked off his career as Tanya Turner’s 17-year-old toyboy lover on the ITV drama.

His character Darius was an up-and-coming football star, but nowhere near as good at the game as his older and more experienced teammates.

However, after Footballers’ Wives ended the actor really struck gold with his career shaping performance as Paul Foreman on Coronation Street.

Fans of the cobbles were recently left in tears as Paul passed away after a long struggle with motor neuron disease (MND) – a rare condition which affects the brain and nerves.

Peter was awarded the National Television Award for Best Newcomer for the role in 2020.

The actor also had a stint as Ron in Hollyoaks for a few months in 2018.

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Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang has claimed that Sydney Sweeney begged the cast to “make jokes about my boobs” when she hosted the show earlier this year.

The 27-year-old Euphoria and Anyone But You actor hosted SNL in March this year where she made jokes about rumours surrounding her and Glen Powell and her part in superhero flop Madame Web.

Although Sweeney’s hosting appearance was mostly viewed as a success there was some pushback about the multiple gags and sketches about her physical appearance, including one where she worked as a Hooters waitress.

However, Yang has now stated that many of the ideas for jokes came from Sweeney herself who claimed: “She was practically begging everybody.”

Speaking on the Fly on the Wall podcast, Yang said Sweeney was “an example of a host who came in and understood how she was being consumed and perceived already”.

He added: “She came in and was like, ‘Please, everyone, make jokes about my boobs.’”

Sweeney’s SNL appearance bizarrely became a political talking point with one right-wing commentator writing a think piece called: “Are Sydney Sweeney’s breasts double-D harbingers of the death of woke?”

Commenting on the debate, the Immaculate actor told NME that “there’s not anything I can do” about the obsession with her appearance.

Asked if it made her want to stay off the internet, she responded: “Um, no, I think it’s important to be aware of everything and then use that information however I may well. But I’m just being me, that’s all.”

This echoed the thoughts that she shared in an interview with Variety published on 18 March, Sweeney admitted that the constant remarks make her feel like she has “no control” over online discourse about her own appearance.

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“I see it, and I just can’t allow myself to have a reaction. I don’t know how to explain it – I’m still trying to figure it out myself,” she told the outlet when asked about the viral reaction to her SNL debut.

“People feel connected and free to be able to speak about me in whatever way they want, because they believe that I’ve signed my life away. That I’m not on a human level anymore, because I’m an actor. That these characters are for everybody else, but then me as Sydney is not for me anymore,” Sweeney said. “It’s this weird relationship that people have with me that I have no control or say over.”

Phillip Schofield says the “utter betrayal” by his television colleagues has made him never want to be a daytime presenter again as he returns to the small screen.

The 62-year-old former This Morning presenter will be seen in Channel 5’s Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, his first appearance on a TV series since he left ITV in May 2023 after he admitted to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague.

When he resigned more than a year ago, he denied having been “forced out” of the daytime show, and said he was “so very, very sorry” for lying to the channel, his colleagues and his wife and friends.

However, on the fourth day on the small island of Nosy Ankarea, off the coast of Madagascar, Schofield claims he was “chucked under a bus” and that he could do the same to others but he is “not that sort of person”.

In the second episode, he says he had expected to “die on live television at 93”, but now he does not think he wants to do it any more because he has been “hurt so badly” by being a presenter, and “some of the people on that sort of telly”.

Schofield says that when he started at the BBC as a booking clerk at 19, he was able to go to Television Centre, where ITV’s This Morning was later filmed, and “loved being there”.

He adds: “When what happened to me happened to me, it screwed up my favourite building in the world, and it pretty well blew away all those happy memories, and suddenly the place became hostile to me, and that was heartbreaking.

“And the people who did it to me know, they know how important that building was to me.

“They know that when you throw someone under a bus, you’ve got to have a really bloody good reason to do it. Brand, ambition is not good enough. It’s not a good enough reason to throw someone under a bus.”

He adds that “people can be so fake with you when it’s all going well, and suddenly utter, utter betrayal”.

“When the tidal wave washed through and it washed everybody away. The ones that are still standing. They’re the ones that matter. And I thought: ‘How many friends do you need?’ I don’t need 200 fake friends. I’ve got, what? Ten, 15 friends that I would die for; they would die for me.”

He also claims the relationship would not have mattered if he was not gay, and suggests an affair with a woman would have meant a “pat on the back”.

“I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing, difference is, heterosexual, it’s not an unusual thing in the gay world for there to be a difference in age groups.”

On day six, he climbs the island’s mountain, and reflects on life outside television.

A video is also shown from before he took on the challenge in which he says: “You’ve got to look elsewhere, and you’ve got to see: where does that path go? Because I can’t go down that one any more.”

On reaching the summit, he cites the poem Welcome to Holland – in which someone going on holiday to Italy goes somewhere they do not expect – by Emily Perl Kingsley that his therapist sent to him.

While looking out at the view, Schofield says: “Holland is a lovely place, with lovely people … and it’s not quite where you thought you were going to go, but it’s rewarding and it gives moments like this.”

ITV has been contacted for comment.