Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard was diagnosed with breast cancer just minutes before filming her first scenes for Irish soap Fair City
Beverley Callard has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The former Coronation Street star, 68, had recently moved to Ireland to take up a role in Dublin-based soap Fair City, but received the shocking news just 20 minutes before filming her debut scenes.
Beverley was left stunned when doctors contacted her with the diagnosis and advised her to return to the UK immediately to begin treatment.
Speaking on Ireland’s The Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty, Beverley said: “It’s difficult to know where to start. I knew I was coming over here for four weeks, then I’d have a couple of weeks back in the UK, and then back here again for quite a long time.
“I’d had some tests just before I left the UK, and literally 15 to 20 minutes before my first scene, I was in my dressing room at Fair City getting ready to go on. I was quite nervous, thinking, ‘I hope everybody thinks I’m all right.’
“Then my consultant rang and said, ‘You’ve got to come back to the UK.’ I told him I couldn’t possibly because I’d just taken a new job and was due to be away for a month. That’s when I was told I had breast cancer.”
Despite the shock of the diagnosis, Beverley stressed that she is coping well, explaining that the cancer was caught at an early stage.
She said: “I’m fine — absolutely fine. My head was a bit mashed for the first few days, but it’s very early stages, and I’m in the same position as thousands of other women.
“I’m travelling back to the UK tomorrow (07.02.26) for a couple of weeks. They’re going to test my lymph nodes and glands and all that.”
Beverley will undergo surgery and radiotherapy in the UK but is determined to return to Ireland within weeks to continue filming.
She added: “I need an operation and some radiotherapy, and then I’ll be coming back to Fair City. I’ll be back in just a few weeks.”
Best known for playing iconic Coronation Street character Liz McDonald, Beverley delighted Irish viewers when she joined the long-running soap Fair City. She will appear as Lily, the estranged mother of Carrigstown resident Gwen, played by Emily Lamey.
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