01 June 2023 , 17:55
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Her outfits as Liz McDonald may have been iconic but Beverley Callard couldn’t wait to change her spots when she left Coronation Street.
The actress, 66, said playing the brassy Rovers Return landlady for 31 years put her off wearing leopard-print for life.
She also admitted she often thought she looked “so bad” as the ITV soap favourite she fretted about leaving her dressing room – and she opened up about how being on TV made her become deeply critical of her looks.
Beverley told Kaye Adams on her How to be 60 podcast : “The other members of the cast used to wait to see what Liz was wearing. I did always try and keep it very real.
“Now I never wear leopard print, ever, because I had to wear it so much when I was playing Liz. I very rarely wear skirts. I like clothes that I can hide in.
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Bev as brassy Liz in 1997 (Granada Television)
Bev in civvies with her husband Jon (Manchester Evening News)“[Liz would] always have a knicker line, so I wore knickers that were too tight for me and a bra that was too tight for me, because that’s what she would have done.
“Sometimes I’d look so bad I’d think, ‘I cannot venture out of my dressing room’.
Liz wore various shades of animal print (ITV)“Being on TV makes you super-critical of yourself. I hate mirrors, I don’t really look at photos of myself. In that aspect of things, I have quite low self-esteem.”
Beverley quit the soap twice and returned but insists her 2020 exit was for good – despite bosses inviting her back.
She said: “My life is too good now.”
Liz adds splash of colour to her usual style (ITV)The star, mum to Rebecca, 47, and Joshua, 34, moved with fourth husband Jon McEwan from Manchester to the Norfolk countryside recently for a “different kind of life”.
She said: “I loved my time [at Corrie] and have the dearest friends there but it was time to go.
"I’m loving having some time with Jon, with the dogs and the kids when they’re free, being able to choose how I spend most of my days.
Leopard print was Liz's go-to look (ITV)“The day I handed my notice in I thought, ‘Have I done the right thing?’ But it’s liberating. I’m much more relaxed now.”