Kym's Rovers Return
Five months after her guest appearance in Coronation Street as sexy singer Michelle Connor, former Hear'say star Kym Marsh is back by popular demand and pulling pints as the soap's new bubbly barmaid `
Many wrote Kym Marsh off when she left Popstars band Hear'Say, failed to get her solo career off the ground and lost out in the vote to represent the UK in this year's Eurovision Song Contest to an unknown rapper named Daz Sampson. What's more, they predicted her marriage to Jack Ryder - the former EastEnders heart-throb five years her junior - would never last.
But they underestimated the 30-year-old mother of two, who has successfully reinvented herself as a credible actress with a coveted role in Coronation Street, and enjoys a thriving, solid family life thanks to a recent move to Manchester, where the soap is filmed.
"When things don't go right, you can either lie down and disappear or keep fighting," she shrugs. "I'm the type of person who will always pick myself up. I'm one of life's fighters.
"It's the way I've been broughtup. I was badly bullied at school, pregnant at 18 and had two children by the age of 21. I've seen a lot of things. I'm also not afraid to work hard I like a challenge."
But even she was taken aback when she got the call from Coronation Street bosses, asking her to reprise the role of club singer Michelle Connor. She appeared in four episodes in April to join the band put
together by Liz McDonald's sleazy boyfriend Vernon.
"To be honest, I never thought I'd be invited back," Kym admits. "I didn't want to build my hopes up. When I found out, I was cooking dinner -but Jack and I just left that and went out to celebrate with champagne!"
Now she's happily ensconced behind the bar at The Rovers Return, the latest in a long tradition of feisty Weatherfield women to pull pints for thirsty regulars.
“I’ve never worked in a pub,” the star admits. 'I'm very confused by the till and the optics!"
Even so, it looks as if she's here to stay The soap's producers have also cast a family for Michelle, and last week saw the arrival of her son Ryan (Ben Thompson) and brother Liam Gallagher) follows hot on their heels this week.
"There's a lot of comedy there and mutual respect," Kym says. "They're a great family, I hope everyone's going to love them."
Unfortunately, Michelle has already got off on the wrong foot with her firebrand boss Liz McDonald, who is jealous of the attention Vernon has been showing her new staff member. However, Liz's son Steve seems to be developing a soft spot for Michelle, and has even offered to pick up her son from school.
But this week, the single mum overhears Steve downplaying his growing feelings for her to Liz.
"Michelle's hurt and disappointed and he gets a frosty reception the rest of the week. But I doubt if it will last - I think she's going to cause quite a bit of trouble!"
So is this the beginning of a beautiful Weatherfield romance?
"It's going to be one of those 'will they, won't they?' relationships. I think they'd make a great
couple but I don't know if they are going to get it together," she teases.
"It'd be nice for Steve to find someone. He's been unlucky in love in the past and so has she. I'm flattered by comparisons to his ex-wife Karen, but my character's very different to her."
The raven-haired star admits that joining the popular soap was nervewracking, but she was given a warm welcome.
"Simon [Gregson], who plays Steve, has made me feel relaxed and comfortable and we get on brilliantly. And I love Bev Canard [Liz McDonald]. All the cast have been great and I really feel I'm starting to belong. Now I've moved nearby, I get to see them all outside of work, too."
Rather than commute 200 miles from her home in Hertfordshire to the Coronation Street studios
in Manchester, she and Jack decided to relocate the family to be closer to her work. Just two days before our interview, the family moved from their four-bedroom home in St Albans to a village within easy reach of Granada Studios. And Kym sounds upbeat, despite her evident exhaustion.
"It's been a whirlwind," she sighs. "I feel like I'm living out of a box. We didn't think how much stuff we had, and then filled a 40ft lorry.
"But my family come first and always have done," she adds. "Moving house just means
I can be nearer my family - and also the kids get to see more of their dad because at the moment, they only come to Wigan once a fortnight and it was a killer of a journey for them."
Kym fell pregnant at the age of 18 by boyfriend David Cunliffe, and they had a second child three years later. Sadly, the relationship didn't work out, and Kym raised David, now 11, and Emily, eight, on child support while trying to make ends meet as a session musician, singing in pubs and clubs and auditioning for record company deals.
Everything changed when her mum spotted in ad for the IM show Popstars and made Kym go along to the auditions. Against the odds, she was chosen for the winning five piece, Hear'Say, who topped the charts in 2001 with their record-breaking debut single Pure And Simple, which sold 1.2 million copies.
A successful album followed, but Kym quit the band amid rumours of in-fighting with fellow band member Myleene Mass.
But, setting the record straight, Kym insists, "I left because I couldn't concentrate on the band. The children were more important. They're so chuffed I'm in Corrie, but if they were ever unhappy, I'd give it all up."
She is equally devoted to her husband Jack - who played mechanic Jamie Mitchell in EastEnders - and has now taken his name professionally, appearing on the Coronation Street credits as Kym Ryder.
"Jack is everything to me and he's fantastic with the kids. But like any relationship, we work at it and we're very supportive of each other and that's the key. My parents have been together for over 40 years and that's their secret."
She and Jack met in the BBC canteen five years ago, when she was 25 and he was 20. "We got close very quickly," she reveals. "I've met guys before who found my set-up too hard to handle. But Jack understood from day one that I came as a threesome - me and the kids - and pursued me anyway. I didn't think men like him existed."
She confides that the couple hope to have a baby of their own soon but, despite reports to
the contrary, insists they're not trying yet.
"We've been together a while and I'd like more children, but we'd both like to wait until our schedules settle down. At the moment, they're mental! But I do get broody and I love being mum. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done."
Jack left EastEnders in 2002 after his character was killed off following a car accident. His death scenes were ratings grabbers, but apart
from a cameo role in MIT: Murder Investigation Team, his TV appearances have been sparse. However, Kym refutes claims that her husband is an out-of-work actor.
"It does my head in, honestly. People think that because you're not on TV every day, you're not working. But Jack's been so busy. He was glad of the break after EastEnders. He likes to be out of the limelight."
Last year, he filmed a leading role in the British film Popcorn, alongside Hollyoaks' Jodi Albert, and is currently touring in the play The Safari Party, with Christopher Timothy.
"Jack plays a Northerner and he got me to help him with his accent!" says Kym, who has now almost lost her distinctive Wigan vowels.
"He's very talented and has got TV work on his agenda. He's got his eye open for things."
He could do worse than take a leaf out of his wife's book. When her solo career fell flat, she went into musical theatre, with a well-received stint in the West End production of
Saturday Night Fever. And, when her bid for Eurovision glory failed ("I thought it would just be a bit of fun"), she decided to focus solely on acting.
She landed a hard-hitting role as a high-class hooker in the Hollyoaks spin-off In The City, which showed her in a risque, cocaine-fuelled lesbian romp. Now she has landed the job she dreamed of since she was a little girl.
Raised in Wigan by her parents Dave and Pauline, she wanted to perform from the age of five. After enrolling at a stage school, she signed to a small record label at 13 and scored a minor chart hit with her first single, One Kiss.
She has come a long way since then and happily declares she is "having the time of her life".
But things haven't always been so rosy. While today, she looks slim and toned with her inky black hair in a funky bob, she has had problems with her body image and bulimia in the past,
which were exacerbated when Popstars producer 'Nasty' Nigel Lythgoe criticised her weight gain.
"When I left Hear'Say, I was unwell and unhappy and I was comforteating in the house because
I was missing my family. But I was only about a size 12 even then."
Since the age of 21, she has also been plagued by panic attacks which have affected her ability to drive. She has sought help from hypnotist Paul McKenna, and life coaches Nik and Eva Speakman - the results of which can be seen in a UKTV Style series A Life Coach Less Ordinary this month.
But on the whole, life is looking good for Kym.
"I've achieved so much," she muses. "I feel very fortunate. You look at reality shows now, and see people come and °o. They have one-hit record and then Disappear. But it's a continuing battle and hard work that keeps you there. Getting the break is just the beginning."