‘Romance is EVERYTHING'

If the friends of former Coronation Street star Beverley Callard hadn’t set her up, the soap icon might never have found her soulmate

- ATHERINE HASSELL

As miniskirt-wearing matriarch Liz McDonald, Beverley Callard spent 32 years on and off suffering the slingbacks and poorly aimed Cupid’s arrows of outrageous fortune on the cobbles of Coronation Street. With an enviable blend of superb comic timing, serious dramatic chops and immense likeability, the 65-year-old became one of our best-loved characters.

But what’s less well-known is her skill at matchmaking – she introduced longtime screen son Simon Gregson (aka Corrie cabbie Steve McDonald) to his wife. ‘I’ve got a good track record,’ she says. ‘I knew Emma from the pub and thought, "These two are going to get on so well..." There they are: happily married and three boys later.'

The soap icon's clearly a romantic. 'Romance is everything, isn't it?' she enthuses. 'If you love and you're in love, there's nothing better. Before I met Jon, I'd been married three times. That was going to be it. I'd not been on a date for ages. I wasn't interested. Life was good. I was content. But sometimes that's when it happens...

Friends where they lived in Spain arranged a gathering, so Beverley and recording studio owner Jon McEwan could meet. 'My first reaction was, "God, he's got a shaved head and tattoos. Is he a drug dealer?" she laughs. 'We all went to a restaurant, then a nightclub. We ended up in a petrol station drinking coffee at five in the morning.'