'I want to go back with a bang'

Ex-Corrie star Georgia Taylor, 27, reveals the only reason she'd go back to the soap that made her name and why it's a mystery she's never met the other Toyah...

You've been very busy. You've made a few films and BBC1 drama Lilies. Now you're in Life On Mars and legal drama New Street Law. So leaving Corrie was a good move then!

I think so, yeah! I hope so. It's never easy to go back to being a jobbing actress, but I'm enjoying what I'm doing.

Do the public still ask if you'll return?

They do. I've no plans to go back. I was asked to return for Les and Cilla's wedding, but it was for a short time and I was working. I've always said, if I go back, I want to go back with a bang, not for two episodes to sit in the background. I don't know how I would feel if they were to ask me back again. But never say never.

In the meantime, you're starring in Life On Mars...

Yes, I play one of a group of door-to-door beauty sales girls. But some of them do something extra for money, if you get my drift. Then one of them is murdered.

What was it like to go back to the 1970's?

Nice. It was lots of make-up - they really went for it with the false eyelashes and big hair - but I like to change my look. In one scene, we've got red shoes, red coats, red vanity cases, red dresses, red nails, red lips... there was a sea of red - scarlet women in more ways than one!

Your role in New Street Law brings you back into the present...

I play a woman who's a self-harmer with severe depression, so she has regression therapy to discover the underlying issues that are making her feel so miserable.

Does regression therapy appeal to you?

I've seen regression shows on TV and find it all embarrassing. I wouldn't feel happy about exposing genuine emotion on telly. It's different when you're acting, but to be yourself, stripped bare and sobbing, thinking you're a 19th century maid who's just been whipped or something? No, it doesn't appeal to me.

You're still pals with Jane Danson, who played Toyah's sister Leanne..

Yeah, we're really close. She asked me to read a poem at her wedding - it terrified me. I was fine until the day, and then I got emotional when she walked down the aisle. My voice started to go at the end. I couldn't look at her the whole way through.

Have you babysat for her little boy Harry yet?

No, but Jane always talks about me being Harry's auntie. I want to be the cool trendy auntie who leads him astray. (Laughs)

Why do think you and Jane remained so close?

We went through a lot together, becoming famous overnight when we were both young. She's loyal, kind and reliable - and we have a laugh. I know she's always there for me and I hope she knows the same with me. It's lovely to have a friendship that's lasted so long and is stronger now than when we were in Corrie.

Have you ever met the other famous Toyah?

Willcox? No! (Laughs) Why have I not met her, as well? What's funny is, she was on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! with my former Corrie co-star Chris Bisson, and I've never spoken to him about her either. Do you think she even knows who I am?

She must do!

It is quite an unusual name, isn't it? And, of course Toyah Battersby was named after her. I'd love to meet her. But how disappointing if she said, 'Who are you?' I'd be mortified!

Woman's Own 5th March 2007

EX-CORRIE star Georgia Taylor has been helping performing art students at West Cheshire College learn the tricks of the acting trade.

The star, better known for her on-screen performance as Toyah Battersby in Coronation Street, paid a special visit to the College's Ellesmere Port Campus on Monday. 

Georgia used her acting experience to offer advice in a question and answer session, offering tips on both stage and screen acting, agents and securing the right role. She also brought along a selection of her favourite scripts for the students to undertake a mock audition and gave feedback on their performances.

Georgia (far left) joins Performing Arts students outside the College's John Prescott Theatre. 

Paul Moss, teacher in performing arts at the college, said: "Some of our acting students want to do stage work and others want to do TV work. We thought it would be a good idea to get someone in to tell them first
hand what it is like to do acting.

"We were delighted when Georgia agreed to come into the College. She planned the session and brought along her own materials and scripts to help give the best insight possible into the world of acting. We hope the hints and tips the students received will now inspire them in their own acting careers."

Georgia Taylor's other film and television credits include BBC hit-drama, Lilies, Blackpool and The History Boys. She also enjoyed an early role in military drama, Red Cap, starring Tamzin Outhwaite and made a special
appearance in long-running rural drama, Where the Heart Is.

Georgia said: "I have been good friends with course tutor Darren Poyzer since I was 14 after meeting him at youth theatre. He asked if I was interested in coming into the college to talk to the students.

"It was my idea to do a workshop audition as I think its important for the students to get as much as experience as they can. When I was back at college, I would have loved for an industry professional to come in and talk to us.

"I will be giving the students feedback after the auditions and telling them how to be professional and adaptable."

Ellesmere Port Standard 2nd March 2007

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Former soap starlet Georgia Taylor loves the 1920s fashions in BBC1's Lilies, her first period drama

Variety has certainly proved to be the spice of life for actress Georgia Taylor in the past 12 months. She's played a single mother in the acclaimed BBC musical drama Viva Blackpool, romped naked in the recent film The History Boys and is now starring as an Olympic swimmer in BBC1's new period drama Lilies.

The eight-part series, set in the 1920s, is a coming-of-age tale charting the lives of three sisters, Iris, May and Ruby (played by Catherine Tyldesley, Leanne Rowe and Kerrie Hayes), who eke out a living with their widowed father (Brian McCardie) and troubled brother Billy (Daniel Rigby) in post-World War One Liverpool.

"It appealed to me because it's period drama and I've never been offered any before," explains Georgia, who shot to fame as Coronation Street's Toyah Battersby.

"I play Phyllis Cook, who is good friends with Ruby and they're both part of a local swimming troupe. But Phyllis is troubled; her father died during the war and her mother has remarried and she really dislikes her new stepfather, so she feels quite alone."

The first episode follows Phyllis and Ruby as they try out for the Olympic swimming team, which meant wearing "vile" period swimsuits, as Georgia recalls. " Wearing that cozzie was quite traumatic," she laughs. "Not only was it the most unflattering costume I've ever had to wear, it got really heavy when it was wet. I'm a decent swimmer but that made it very difficult."

She was more impressed by the figure she cut while wearing her first corset. "It completely affects the way you stand and you can't bend over. My advice is if you need to go on a diet, whack a corset on - you really can't eat!" she says. "It gives you a great shape, though, and a bit more cleavage, which was nice."

Since leaving Coronation Street in 2003, the 26-year-old actress has tackled an impressive range of roles. She even received the royal seal of approval last year, when she met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at the premiere for The History Boys. They were both charmed by the young actress, but little did they know that the role originally saw her stripped down to almost nothing on her very first day of filming.

"I was in bed snogging and groping Dakin [Dominic Cooper] on my first morning on shoot," she chuckles. "I was supposed to be naked, so I just had a strapless boob tube and G-string on, and he stripped down to his Y-fronts.

"But Dominic was lovely, a real gentleman, and made me feel very comfortable. He's got a girlfriend and I've got a partner and it was all strictly professional. But then that scene was cut, so I took my clothes off for nothing!"

She plays headmaster's secretary Fiona, a role which was created especially for the screen version of Alan Bennett's award-winning play, set in a single-sex comprehensive in the 1980s.

"I was very flattered they put me in the trailer, but it was a very small role and unfortunately, after the edit, even smaller. I was a little disappointed. But I understand that the boys' story is more important," she explains.

Georgia landed the part after a casting director saw her in a play at London's Royal Court Theatre. "I met Alan Bennett and it was exciting, but he's incredibly down-to-earth. He's just there, with his tea in a polystyrene cup, and the boys take the mickey out of him so you forget he's a literary icon."

And the actress was equally unfazed by meeting Prince Charles and Camilla at the royal premiere of the movie in October. "Camilla was very chatty and friendly when I spoke to her briefly - pleasant and spirited," she says.

Despite the success of the movie, Georgia, who grew up in Wigan, Greater Manchester, has no plans to use The History Boys as a launch pad for a Hollywood career. In fact, in the past four months she's turned down three acting jobs which she felt weren't suitable.

"I'm trying to be brave and hold out for jobs that interest me," she explains. "We make some of the best films and TV and certainly have the best theatre in the world in Britain, so I've still got groundwork to do here."

Having told the Daily Express last year that her ideal job would be a role in Life On Mars, her dream came true when she guest-starred in the upcoming series as "a sort of Avon lady". Her scenes were mostly with John Simm, whom she's met briefly nine years before at a bar with Coronation Street actress Vicky Entwistle, who played her screen mum Janice Battersby. "When I met John on Life On Mars he remembered me - I was really touched by that," she smiles.

As for returning to Weatherfield, it seems unlikely, since Georgia has already turned down one invitation to thread the cobbles again. "They asked me back for Les and Cilla's wedding just over a year ago, but I said no and they haven't asked me since," she reveals.

This week, Georgia was cheering on her former Corrie castmate and screen stepsister Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby) in the studio of ITV1's Soapstar Superstar.

"Jane is my best mate. I see her and baby Harry all the time," she says. "She's the first of my friends to have a baby and she's a great mother. The other day we were looking at photos of Harry and we both got teary-eyed and I said 'God, I'm just so proud of you!'"

Georgia, who also recently appeared in BBC1 drama New Street Law, alongside John Thomson and Lisa Faulkner, says that when it comes to reality shows, she firmly intends to remain an audience member. "I was asked to do I'm A Celebrity... several times, including this last series, but it just didn't appeal to me," she admits.

"It raises your profile and people become personalities, but if I want people to take me seriously as an actress and be seen for theatre and films, I'm not sure how much respect you win by going on shows like that. I know you get good money but if it was about money, I'd have stayed in Coronation Street."

Unlike Jane Danson, it doesn't look like Georgia will be taking a career break to have babies in the near future, either. She says she and her boyfriend of six years, musician Mark Eyden, are happy just as they are.

"We never fight. Sometimes I think is it normal, but it's probably abnormal!" she laughs. "That's not to say we don't disagree, but we've never had a shouting argument. We're good at talking. Mark's very supportive and we're just best mates."

And the couple have no imminent plans to marry, either. "I love going to weddings and when I'm there I'm filled with romance and think how brilliant it would be, but not at the moment," she says. "And I would love to have kids, especially now Jane's got her one-year-old son, Harry, but in the future. I hope I don't leave it too late. I'm only 26 but it's difficult - when is the right time?"

Perhaps not right now, since she's currently filming Baker Street, a new movie starring Jason Statham about a real-life 1971 London bank robbery. "I play a receptionist in a garage who's incredibly feisty and sparky and marries a younger guy. It's a very good supporting role," she enthuses.

"Things go in fits and starts, but it's good at the moment, fingers crossed." With a career going as well as Georgia's, there's no need. 

Daily Express Saturday Magazine Jan 6th 2007

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Georgia Taylor loved her first role in a lavish costume drama...

Georgia Taylor has come a long way since playing Corrie's mouthy teen Toyah Battersby. This week, you can see her wearing a corset for the first time in a new costume drama set in the Twenties.

'Corsets are painful!' she exclaims. 'Being winched into one is so uncomfortable - I got really bad backache.'

Georgia guest stars in the first episode of Lilies, an eight-part series set in Liverpool, which follows the fortunes of the Moss sisters. 'The Moss family are very working class, and there's a lot of poverty,' explains Georgia, who plays Ruby's best friend Phyllis. 'The first episode focuses on Ruby. Phyllis is her best friend, whose dad was killed during World War One - so she's carrying a lot of emotional baggage.'

With dreams of making the Olympic swimming team, Ruby and Phyllis enter the British trials. But it wasn't quite what Georgia was expecting... 'It wasn't the kind of swimming I do at the gym,' she laughs. 'I wore a Twenties all-in-one woolen costume, which came halfway down my thigh with a skirt over the top. It wasn't very aerodynamic at all!

'The story follows the girls through the trials, and then there's a twist at the end involving my character,' she adds cryptically. 'It's not that Phyllis dies. It's rather that she does something very unforgivable...'

Georgia's appearance in Lilies has certainly left her hungry for more roles in costume dramas. 'I'd love to do another one if the opportunity arose,' she says. 'What is brilliant about this drama is that, along with appealing to those interested in the era, it also manages to deal with modern issues in a bold and dramatic way. And that makes it really fascinating viewing!'

What's On TV 6-12th Jan 2007

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Georgia Makes A Splash

Former Coronation Street star Georgia Taylor was thrilled to be offered a role in period drama, Lilies, BBC1's new prime-time series set in Liverpool during the Twenties. But visions of tight bodices and flowing gowns were soon dashed when she discovered that her period costume included a hideous swimsuit.

'It was vile, the most unflattering thing I've had to wear for a job,' chuckles Georgia who played teenager Toyah Battersby in Corrie. 'It was heavy, it sagged and the swimming cap made me look bald!'

Georgia plays Phyllis Cook, a friend of Ruby (Kerrie Hayes) - one of three sisters who are living on the brink of poverty just after World War I. Phyllis, on the other hand, enjoys a slightly grander life with her mother and stepfather, but she's troubled. 'Phyllis is carrying a lot of emotional baggage because her father died at sea during the war and they never had the opportunity to bury him,' explains Georgia.

But Phyllis and Ruby both put their personal woes aside in this week's initial episode, when they try out for the Olympic swim team.

Georgia happens to be a strong swimmer but she found her skills were barely up to scratch for Lilies. 'I told them I was a reasonable swimmer, but I hadn't done the front crawl since I was a kid and I'd never learned to dive - and I needed to look Olympic standard!' laughs Georgia. 'I only had one hour with a swimming instructor to learn to dive and then we started filming the scenes. But I hadn't factored in a starting pistol going off next to my ear, the 150 extras watching and that heavy swimsuit!

'As a result I did quite a few duff dives and belly flops. It wasn't easy.'

Nevertheless, it's another juicy role to add to the list Georgia has totted up since leaving Coronation Street just over three years ago. Apart from numerous theatre roles, Georgia's appeared in Blackpool and she'll soon be seen in episodes of Life On Mars and New Street Law, and was practically the only female in recent film The History Boys.

But Toyah is still the role people remember Georgia for. 'I'll spend weeks doing a play in London and forget I was ever in Corrie, and all of a sudden a load of schoolgirls will point and giggle,' smiles Georgia. 'I take it as a compliment.'

TV Quick 6-12th Jan 2007

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As Toyah in Coronation Street, Georgia Taylor captured the nation's attention. Here she discusses her northern grass roots, fame, love and how she shed the troubled-teen typecasting and made it on to the big screen.

Georgia Taylor has a bit of a thing for Steve Coogan. 'He's one of my heroes,' she says. 'Alan Partridge was one of the greatest comedy creations ever. That's who I see when I look at him. It must be frustrating for him, but it's also a compliment, because he created such an iconic character.'

People could say the same about about Georgia. She played Coronation Street's ultimate troubled teen - the mouthy, mardy Toyah Battersby - for five years, during which time she fell first for an eco-warrier named Spider, and later discovered that her college-lecturer boyfriend was sleeping with her flatmate. Toyah was also the victim of a shocking rape. Georgia left three years ago, but such was Toyah's impact on the show that she says a lot of people are convinced she's still in it.

If this frustrates her, she seems sanguine about it, despite the fact that her subsequent TV roles - the most notable of which was Shyanne, the spiky daughter of David Morrissey in the BBC musical-drama Blackpool - have had more than a hint of Toyah about them.

But she's about to take a quantum leap forward with her movie debut. The History Boys, adapted from Alan Bennett's hugely successful, multi-award-laden stage play, tells the story of a bunch of bright young Oxbridge wannabes at a northern grammar school - think Miss Jean Brodie's crème de la crème with added testosterone. Their souls are fought over by two chalk-and-cheese teachers: the effusive Hector (Richard Griffiths), whose unorthodox methods and very hands-on way of dishing out merits loom large as his girth, and the dry Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), who encourages blue-sky thinking in essays - Stalin as good guy, etc - to pique the interest of jaded examiners. It's a male milieu, but the world-weary Frances de la Tour is also on the faculty to dispense seen-it-all-before bons mots, and Georgia, all briskness and big hair, bustles down the corridors as Fiona, the headmaster's secretary and object of the boys' - not to mention her boss's - affections.

'I am the History Girl,' says Georgia. 'But it's kind of embarrassing because I'm hardly in it - a lot of my lines were cut so it's basically a hair part. It's still a great thing to be part of, though.'

Georgia got the role after the casting director at London's National Theatre, where the play originated, saw her in a production called The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre.

Given that the part of Fiona was created especially for the film - the film was made with the entire original play cast - and the Boys have played their roles in the West End, on Broadway as well as in the movie, did she feel like the new girl at school? 'Well, I was the only female at the read-through,' she grins, 'and when I got there the boys were chasing each other round the room. They're in their mid-20s now but they still behave like boys - they have a very strong bond. But they all made me feel welcome.'

As for the transition from theatre and TV to movies, Georgia is taking it in her stride; the experience is no different, she claims, except she gets less money. What about the prospect of seeing herself on a 50 ft screen? She blanches. 'I'm sure I'll probably hate it; I'll think I look crap. But I can't afford to be vain. I'm no pin-up girl; I'm under no illusions about that.'

From anyone else in Georgia's position, this would be taken as false modesty, but it's not just her pragmatic Mancunian vowels - just like Toyah's - that signal she's in earnest. Now 26, she's lost all vestiges of Toyah's puppy fat; in fact, she's two stone lighter than she was in her Street days, thanks to a regimen of 50 lengths a day in the pool and strict abstinence from fatty foods. She's sleek and chic in skinny jeans and hippie beads, but she's quick to draw attention to what she calls 'my chubby face - the face of a character actress, which is what I'd like to be.'

Despite the fact that she was part of Coronation Street at a time when 'soap brands' were rolling out, via lad-mag shoots, breakfast TV tie-ins and Stars In Their Eyes specials, Georgia steadfastly refused to get caught up in anything but the on-screen drama (turning down an offer from I'm a Celebrity...Get Me out of Here! in the process). Apart, that is, from one photo session with her boyfriend of six years, musician, Mary Eyden. 'It was a disaster,' she shudders. 'We're quite private people, and we just hated it. I can't do the whole premiere thing. 

I don't even like champagne. None of that ever feels natural to me.' She glances around the walls of the chic London hotel where we meet, bedecked with 1960s black and white shots of glamorous film starlets in Givenchy couture; she seems to shrink down into her seat even more. 'I'm staying in this hotel,' she confides in a stage whisper, 'and it makes he feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I can't imagine how anything like this could ever feel normal to me.'

With comments like these, it seems superfluous to ask how Georgia stays so grounded. 'Grounded?' she laughs, 'I still go to auditions and don't get parts, just like anyone else. I'm not in any danger of letting things go to my head.' But a solid working-class upbringing near Wigan has probably been a factor. She was born Claire Jackson, but another actress had already registered that name with Equity, so she picked Georgia at random and chose Taylor in memory of her grandfather. Her mother is a housewife, her father a financial advisor - 'that's a godsend,' she sighs, 'I just hand over the forms I get and he says, "Don't worry, darling, I'll sort it out"' - and a younger brother David, 23, is a sports fanatic.

'I don't know where it came from,' she says of her desire to act. 'There was no precedent in the family, although my grandmother was very outgoing and showy, and would have loved to have been an actress. I was quite shy - I was no Annie-in-the-making. I'd perform for my gran, but if my mum tried to watch I'd clam up. I was pretty self-conscious.'

She credits a 'progressive' teacher at her primary school for getting her hooked. 'He decided when we were ten that we'd put on Macbeth, of all things,' she recalls. 'So we did auditions and everything, and I got the part of Lady Macbeth. I really loved the whole process.' That led on to the classic summer-workshops local-theatre-group route - and then landed a role in Britain's biggest TV show when she was just 17 and halfway through her A-levels.

'I was really delighted,' she recalls, 'and my mum was over the moon because Corrie was her favourite show - she thought all her Christmases had come at once. But I was so naive - when I told the principal of my sixth-form college about the job I asked if I could come back in five months, because that's what I thought would happen.'

It didn't, as we know. Georgia went on to fame, acclaim, and though she's far too self-effacing to mention it, acquire some silverware (a British Soap Award for Best Dramatic Performance in 2001). She calls Coronation Street 'the best drama school that anyone could attend'. But it was the strong story line that had been carved out for Toyah that proved the undoing of the character. 'After the rape, it became evident that the writers didn't know what to do with her. Because she was a victim she couldn't have any flaws. They were frightened of demonising someone who'd been through that trauma. That made her less interesting to play and she lost her edge.'

It was for that reason, and her indifference to the extracurricular falderal, that Georgia left the show with no regrets, despite the fact she had no jobs lined up, and (a healthy tally of 11 GCSEs notwithstanding) no fall-back option. 'It's been a slow burn,' she says of her post-Corrie career, 'but that's to do with me avoiding Toyah-type roles in soap-type shows as much as anything else.'

The History Boys should help bring her to Hollywood's attention, but she's determined to remain based in the Manchester flat she shares with Mark. 'There's so much more I need to achieve in this country before I can even think about going to the States,' she says flatly. 'I've got friends telling me I should go to LA and try the pilot season, but I feel I've barely scratched the surface here.'

It's clear that her relationship with Mark keeps Georgia anchored in the broadest sense. Mark plays lead guitar in a band called the Jackdaws, which Georgia describes as 'sort of Kings of Leon-y without all the hair'. 'We're best mates. We never argue, which sounds kind of weird, doesn't it?' Marriage and kids aren't on the cards yet: 'We don't feel ready. We're too focused on our careers. Though it doesn't lesson our commitment,' she adds. 'I feel completely secure.'

For now, Georgia is concentrating on adding a few quality roles to her CV - she stars in the new series of 1970s time-travel detective drama Life on Mars and in a 20s-set BBC sisterly drama called Lilies. When asked whose career she'd like to emulate, she cites the likes of Julie Walters and James McAvoy: 'He's versatile and the majority of people wouldn't recognise him, but everyone in the industry knows who he is and knows he's good. That's what I'm ambitious for.'

The Mail On Sunday You Magazine 01/10/2006

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Former Coronation Street star Georgia Taylor has won a role in a new BBC One drama. She will soon appear in Lilies, a new eight-part series following the lives of Catholic sisters Iris, May and Ruby Moss as they come of age during the 1920s. Georgia will play Phyllis Cook, the best friend of one of the siblings.

The actress is probably still best known to soap fans for her role as feisty Toyah Battersby. The character first appeared in Weatherfield in 1997, and even though she was the most sensitive, studious member of her mouthy family, she still experienced her fair share of drama. 

During her time in the street, viewers saw Toyah fall for Emily's eco-warrior nephew Spider, run away to find her real father and, in a controversial storyline, she was raped by a neighbour.

Georgia quit the soap in 2003, but still remains a familiar face on our screens. She's cropped up in episodes of Where the Heart Is, The Royal, Red Cap, and an edition of The Afternoon Play.

The Lancashire native also took a major role in the musical drama series Blackpool and its recent sequel, Viva Blackpool. She's due to make her film debut later this year in the big-screen version of Alan Bennett's award-winning play The History Boys. 

yahoo.com 03/08/2006

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He found fame as Richard Hillman but actor Brian Capron says you must know when to quit Corrie's Mr Evil warns his former TV co-stars

Brian adds: "Before I went in a soap opera, I thought its actors were quite spoilt people. I thought you don't know you're born. And I still think that about one or two people. But by and large it's a very close knit family and everyone respects each other for walking through those doors every day and doing it. 

"Even if it is someone you might not normally get on with. "But with the youngsters it's hard when they are in that life. Because your life very quickly can be about partying all the time and nightclubs and you actually believe it's going to carry on."

Brian reckons that Georgia a Taylor, who played Toyah Battersby, got it right by quitting in time. 

"If we take someone like her - lovely actress who has a successful career now - she's not interested in going on the front cover of Loaded and those mags," he says. "She's an actress and that's what she wants to do."

Sunday People article extract 30/07/2006

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Georgia, 26, shares her TV highs - and the moments she'd rather forget

THIS WEEK Viva Blackpool

"During the first series of Blackpool, I loved the times when our 'family' were together - me as Shyanne, David Morrissey and Sarah Parish as my parents, and Tom Morrison as my brother. We got on really well. When we made Viva Blackpool, David Morrissey had just finished filming Basic Instinct 2, so I took the mickey out of all the sex scenes he'd done with Sharon Stone!"

2004 Red Cap

"I was only in it for one episode. I played a pregnant war widow. I was so excited about filming in Berlin - until I got there. It was pouring with rain and I was on my own for a lot of the time. Tamzin [Outhwaite] was lovely though."

2003 Where the Heart Is

"I played Jodie Walters. In one episode, I had to give birth in a stable. My skirt was hitched up, gelatine and fake blood were smeared on my legs, and there were cows in the stable next door. Every time I screamed, they mooed!"

1997-2003 Coronation Street

"It was brilliant playing gobby Toyah Battersby, although I cringe when I remember my first ever episode. I was terrible! Bruce Jones and Vicky Entwistle, who played my parents, were fantastic though. The rape storyline in 2001 was very tough for me. I spent a day on set crying."

Closer Magazine 10th - 16th June 2006

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Georgia Taylor is back on track after leaving Corrie

Since she left Corrie three years ago, there were times Georgia Taylor feared she would always be cast in the same mould as Toyah Battersby.

'I wanted to do other things, but I was quite naive, thinking it would all happen really quickly,' she admits. 'Coming from a soap it takes a certain amount of time to prove you can branch out.'

Since playing Shyanne in Blackpool, she has trod the boards in the theatre, played a saucy secretary in upcoming film The History Boys and is due to appear in the second series of Life On Mars. She welcomed the chance to return to Blackpool for this week's one-off special, which finds Shyanne five years on, as a single mum living in a camper van with her two-year-old daughter.

'She's older now and more responsible,' explains Georgia, 26. 'She does a good job of being a mum.'

Shyanne and Ripley's new wedding chapel business is the perfect backdrop for high jinx and camp costumes.

'The best was a Victorian costume with a bonnet. There are scenes of me in this really distinguished outfit, but having a fag and looking a bit trailer trash!' says Georgia.

But it hasn't inspired her to discuss marriage with her long-time boyfriend, musician Mark Eyden.

'It seems a million miles away for me at the moment,' she says. 'If it came to it, I might go to the Caribbean and have a big party when I got back. I think my family would be a bit gutted if I went down the Elvis-themed route!'

TV Quick Magazine 10th - 16th June 2006

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Ripley Returns to Blackpool as a Rocking Reverend

'The storyline provided a chance to wear the most ridiculous costumes,' laughs former Corrie star Georgia. 'After his life fell apart at the end of the last series, Ripley's back from Vegas where he claims to have found God. Now a reverend, he's made Shyanne his wedding assistant, which meant I got to wear all sorts of outfits for the themed ceremonies - from Victoriana to a fairy godmother!'

'As for Shyanne, she now has a two-year-old daughter and has fallen for a guy called Vibe. But she's still fiery and speaks before she thinks,' says Georgia.

Extract From What's on TV Magazine 10th - 16th June 2006

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Former Corrie star Georgia Taylor, 26, on Toyah Battersby's dodgy fashion sense, being a rock chick and why she's bored of awards shows...

My style depends so much on how I'm feeling. I hate to say rock chick, but I suppose that's what I am. I do like my skinny jeans, but also vintage stuff and lots of jewellery, accessories and scarves.

I love shopping in Urban Outfitters. We've just got one in Manchester. Finally, I like the jewellery at the stalls in Affleck's Palace and there's a cool vintage place I love called Rags To Bitches. I'll buy clothes in London if I'm working there, but in Manchester, you can walk for 10 minutes and you're in a new area with different kinds of shops.

The clothes I wore as Toyah Battersby in Corrie were all vile. Camouflage print hot pants, a hooded top and roller blades, my hair like a pineapple and Minnie Mouse ears - anything that made me look ridiculous. There wasn't a single item in her wardrobe I'd ever wear.

I was chubbier than I am now, too, and I had pasty, corned beef legs. I was a size 12, but carried it on my bum and hips, and I had a chubby face, so I looked bigger than I was. I wasn't toned or in proportion. I lost 2 stone seven years ago when I was 19, but people still comment like it's only just happened. When I'm working I don't do much exercise and I eat crap, and when I'm not working, I go to the gym and eat sensibly. It works for me. If you listen to your body, it regulates itself. If you're craving fruit, you're not getting enough vitamins. The worst is when I crave cabbage - it's like, "Oh no, how unhealthy am I?" So if I put on a few pounds, I'll go swimming or to the gym and it'll come off again.

I don't miss Corrie. I still see everyone as I only live five minutes from Granada studios. Jane Danson, who plays Leanne is one of my best friends and so is Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fiz. I felt Toyah had gone as far as she could go, it wasn't fair to stay doing something I wasn't enjoying any more. I'd like to think Toyah is still with Spider, they've had loads of kids and live in a happy retreat. Although, she was talked about recently when Janice came back from visiting her - I love it when they mention her - and apparently she has a new boyfriend.

I've just done a one-off special of the drama, Blackpool. It's a few years on - Ripley's back from Vegas and has opened a 24-hour chapel of love doing themed weddings. My character, Shyanne Holden, has a two-year-old daughter now, she's separated from her husband and is living in a camper van. We filmed it in Blackpool in January and I felt colder than I've ever been in my life.

I've never regretted my decision to leave the Street, even when I'm not working. I wasn't too worried about being typecast, because the girl who left was different from the one that arrived. But I got a lot of scripts for waifs and strays. Because I did dramatic stuff at Corrie, people go, "Ah that's the girl who can cry". But I'm forging a more versatile career now.

I can't be bothered with the celeb party side of things, though - it doesn't appeal. I did awards shows when I was in Corrie and found it boring, I'd rather watch a band, see my mates and be with my boyfriend, Mark, a guitarist and singer who I've been with for six years. We got together when I was 20 and he was 19. He doesn't like me gushing about him all the time. He is gorgeous, though...'

Sunday Mirror Celebs on Sunday Magazine 4th June 2006

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Soap Beauty Goes All Out To Make Blackpool Rock - Georgia Reveals She Is Still In Love With The Street

GEORGIA TAYLOR could have stayed on Coronation Street as part of the Battersby clan for years to come. Instead, the young actress is working in a Las Vegas-style wedding chapel in Blackpool belting out backing vocals on Queen's hit Crazy Little Thing Called Love. She's loving her latest starring role alongside David Morrissey in BBC1's musical spectacular, Viva Blackpool!

Georgia, 26, has built up an impressive CV since quitting the Street as troubled Toyah in February 2003. She's appeared in Where The Heart Is and the original series of Blackpool, which also starred new Dr Who David Tennant. But she admits there have been times when she has wondered if did the right thing in walking away from Weatherfield.

She said: "Work is never constant unless you are somebody like Judi Dench. Touch wood, I have pretty much worked constantly for the last 12 months... or at least known I' got a job coming up. "But when I first left Coronation Street it wasn't steady at all and I was a bit worried. "But you have to remain positive, keep your chin up and hope that something will come along."

And Georgia seems very right for things just now. As well as Viva Blackpool! she is filming a guest role in the new series of time travel hit Life On Mars and Lilies, a BBC period drama set in 1920s Liverpool.

She has come a long way from Toyah, whose soap plots saw her running away from home, being kidnapped and raped. But while she is enjoying herself too much to consider going back to Corrie right now, Georgia won't rule it out. She said: "I am not one of those people who have a job in a soap and then start slagging it off after leaving.

"At the moment I am reasonably busy and I am really enjoying doing a variety of different things but I don't know how I will feel in a couple of years of time. "Maybe I will really miss Corrie and want to go back and work with the same people all the time, have that kind of security."

She keeps in touch with her old co-stars and is best mates with Jane Danson, who plays her screen sister Leanne. Jane has made a successful return to the Street after leaving to pursue other projects including a stint on The Bill and hospital drama A&E. Georgia said: "Jane is having a great time. It's really worked out for her. She's done a fantastic job and has revitalised the character of Leanne.

"And, of course, she's got married and now she's having a baby so I can understand why that kind stability really works for her at this time. "But I'm not in that situation, I haven't got as many responsibilities so now is the time for me to go out there and see what I can achieve."

In Viva Blackpool!, which returns later this month, she plays Shyanne Holden, daughter of former arcade boss Ripley (David Morrissey). The spin-off show sees Ripley and Shyanne holding court in a Vegas-style Chapel of Love, coming into possession of the World Cup trophy, falling in love with purring Kitty De-Luxe (Megan Dodds) and - of course - bursting into song as and when required.

Georgia said: "Ripley has come back from his time in Las Vegas and decided to open his very own 24-hour Chapel of Love with Shyanne and they specialise in themed weddings. "It's very camp with lots of dressing up but I don't really do very much singing, unfortunately. "It's mainly David and Megan, who sing the main parts. I do backing vocals and dance about a bit.

"It's funny filming the musical numbers because when we start off, it lifts the energy and atmosphere in the room, even the crew are singing along and it's a great buzz. "And then by the end of the day, when you've heard the same song about 30 times, you have to steel yourself to have a real energy and enthusiasm for it. "Still, I'd far rather have the music in it than not. But I'm not really a singer, although I'm a big music fan."

Georgia's musical tastes stretch to the likes of Razorlight and Blur and one of her big ambitions is to make it to one of the UK's major festivals like our own T in the Park. She said: "I would love to get up for T in the Park but as a jobbing actress it's always difficult to plan because I don't know what's coming up and I hate the thought of missing out on anything."

Sunday Mail June 4th 2006

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Former Coronation Street star Georgia Taylor is back with David Morrissey in Viva Blackpool - a sequel to last year's critically acclaimed BBC musical drama

Georgia Taylor has come a long way since playing Les Battersby's scruffy teenage stepdaughter Toyah in Coronation Street. Since leaving the soap three and a half years ago, the 26-year-old-old actress has matured into a striking young woman.

During her time in the Street, she became a household name and won critical acclaim for her performance in a grueling rape storyline. But when her character left for a new life in London, Georgia decided it was time for a new challenge.

Since then, she has appeared in Where The Heart Is, The Royal, Red Cap and The Afternoon Play. But her most high-profile role to date has been in the BBC's BAFTA-nominated musical drama Blackpool, starring David Morrissey, David Tennant and Sarah Parish.

This week, she reprises the role of Shyanne Holden in a one-off sequel, Viva Blackpool, which finds her character now a single mum with a toddler.

"Getting the role in Blackpool was a huge thing for me; it was my first proper job since Coronation Street," she says. "I'm pleased to be asked back, although I did miss Sarah Parish and Tom Morrison, who played my mum and brother, since they're not in it."

So how did she react to the new script? "I was surprised! Shyanne was incredibly self-centred and spoilt and now she's a mum, which has really changed her. 

"She split up from her husband Steve [Kevin Doyle], and is working with her dad in their new business adventure, a Vegas-inspired chapel of love, with Ripley (David Morrissey) as reverend. She lives in a tiny camper van and has become an earth mother. She's grown up."

The father-daughter relationship sours, however, when Ripley starts a new relationship with a jilted bride, Kitty De-Luxe (Megan Dodds). Matters are further complicated  when a friend of Ripley's dies and leaves him the Jules Rimet trophy - stolen for real in 1983 in Rio De Janeiro and never recovered.

Georgia was thrilled to be back working with David Morrissey, who has since starred opposite Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct II.

"I'm such a fan of David and have so much respect for him," she says. "When we filmed Viva Blackpool in January, he'd already made Basic Instinct II and I took the mickey out of him about all the sex scenes. The poor guy had to do all these raunchy stuff and threesomes, and then loads were cut from the final film! But I think he really enjoyed making it."

Although a talented actress, Georgia did have dry spells of work after Coronation Street.

"It was a slowish start," she admits. "The longest I was out of work was about five or six months, but in the last year, touch wood, everything's been going well."

Unlike Jane Danson, who played her soap sister Leanne Battersby and returned to the cobbles after a four-year break, Georgia is in no hurry to go back.

"They asked me back for Les and Cilla's wedding last year, but I was working so I couldn't do it anyway. I wouldn't go back at the moment; it wouldn't be fair because my heart's not in it. But maybe in a few years, I might be excited to go back.

"I want to leave Toyah behind and play different sorts of characters. Sometimes you're offered similar roles, but I'm trying not to be like her."

Georgia is still in touch with her former Coronation Street co-stars, and is excited about Jane Danson's baby, due in July.

"Jane is one of my best friends and the first to have a baby. She keeps watching all these videos about childbirth on satellite TV and it's freaking her out. I'm living it through her; I just get to be a cool auntie!"

Georgia lives in Manchester with her boyfriend of six years, Mark Eyden, but she insists that playing a mum in Viva Blackpool hasn't made her think about parenthood.

"It's made me less broody! The toddler who played my daughter was beautiful and energetic, but a real handful. I'm really not ready for something like that. I still feel about 18, like I'm starting my career and my life over again. I want to enjoy it and move forward, so it's not at all the right time for me.

"Me and Mark are happy and we love each other and it's chilled. We don't put pressure on each other about marriage or anything. A lot of my friends are getting married but it's not right for me."

Growing up in Wigan with brother David, now 23, mum Caroline, a shopworker, and dad Geoff, a financial advisor, Georgia performed in school plays and youth theatre.

"I was quite academic, so teachers were surprised that's what I wanted to do. I did well in my GCSEs, but I have no regrets about not going to university."

A few months into her A-level studies, she started auditioning for roles, and was first seen by Coronation Street bosses for the part of Zoe Tattersall before being cast as Toyah when she was just 17.

During her time in the show, she lost two stone and is now a trim size 8.

"I've been this size for six years now, but people still come up to me and say, 'I thought you'd be fatter," she sighs. "I don't get offended, but it's amazing how blunt people are! I was never fat - I was only a size 12, but I had a chubby face because I was young."

But despite her lovely figure, the actress doubts she would ever strip off for a part.

"I've always said no to nudity, but it seems that more and more they want young women to strip off. I don't see the point of it. But I can't say I'd never do it - it would depend. But I always think, 'What would my dad think? I don't want him seeing me without any clothes' So it's a tough one."

For now, Georgia is auditioning for her next part and is hoping it will challenge her as an actress.

"I do love getting a new script - when you get a good one, you really want a go at it. I'm itching for a meaty role."

With her talent, it won't be long before she gets one.

Daily Express Saturday Magazine June 3-9, 2006

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The Afternoon Play: Molly

Ex-Corrie star Georgia Taylor returns to our screens in a role that could hardly be further away from sweet Toyah Battersby. 

In one of a new series of BBC1 plays shown through the week, Georgia, who left the Street three years ago, spends most of the drama in greasy overalls as a mechanic. 'It was like wearing a big romper suit,' she says. 'I was only in make-up five minutes!'

The 25-year-old plays Molly (right), who accidentally discovers her dad's home brew is a car fuel that is ecologically-sound. Of course, the petrol giants are livid, and Molly has to take them on. 'She'll stop at nothing to get the fuel out there,' says Georgia.

Molly is equally determined in love when her mother disapproves of her boyfriend, Johnny. 'Her mother thinks he isn't ambitious enough for her daughter,' says Georgia. But when she tries to find a more suitable beau, it becomes clear love counts more than money.

It's great to see Georgia back on TV, and she has another BBC film lined up. 'I'm loving doing so much stuff,' she grins.

Daily Mirror We Love Telly Magazine 14-20 January 2006

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On Screen/Off Screen: Georgia Taylor : Born Wigan

First TV appearance?

"It was on Coronation Street in 1997. I watched it back with my family and friends and I thought I was terrible. The clothes I had to wear and the way I looked was so embarrassing."

TV idols? 

"Growing up I loved JulieWalters and Victoria Wood and also some of the actors who inspired me as a teenager, Robbie Coltrane and Helen Mirren."

Your most memorable screen moment? 

"That would be when we did a live episode of Coronation Street for the Millennium. We only had about four days in rehearsal so it was quite terrifying but very memorable for having got through it."

Which BBC TV show would you like to resurrect? 

"Jim’ll Fix It because it was hilarious and it reminds me of being a kid. I would have asked him to fix it so that I could go to a chocolate factory like Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Something like that was totally unobtainable back then but now you could just visit Cadbury World."

On which other BBC TV show would you like to make an appearance?

"As a child I wanted to be in Grange Hill or Byker Grove. More recently I would love to have been in the adaptation of Pride And Prejudice."

Ideal night’s TV schedule? 

"I’d start off with some comedy, so I’d have I’m Alan Partridge and The Simpsons, then a good drama like Prime Suspect, followed by Most Haunted and finish off with Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and Later With Jools Holland."

All-time favourite TV show?

"The League Of Gentlemen."

Favourite screen character? 

"I love Steve Coogan and I think Alan Partridge is the most brilliant creation. You can compare his character to people you meet in real life."

Favourite films? 

"What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and, more recently, American Beauty and Lost In Translation."

Favourite music? 

"I’m listening to bands like Arcade Fire and Razorlight at the moment, and for years I’ve loved The Charlatans, Blur, Supergrass and Oasis. My favourite songs are Blur’s slightly less well-known To The End, The Universal and End Of A Century."

Favourite food? 

"A roast dinner with all the trimmings."

Favourite places? 

"New York, which is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before and like something out of the movies. But I live in Manchester and I love it there, too."

Pet hates?

"Litter bugs and noisy eaters."

What are you reading at the moment? 

"Underground by Tobias Hill and Johnny Depp: A Modern Rebel by Brian J Robb."

Last three things you bought?

"A dress to wear to my friend’s wedding, a Christmas present for my brother and the Extras DVD."

Describe your perfect day off:

"Go for a facial, manicure and other spa treatments, have lunch with my friends, then go shopping for clothes, shoes and jewellery. We’d then go to the theatre, followed by wine and tapas, and finish off dancing at our local indie club."

Describe yourself in five words:

"Five foot five, currently blonde."

BBC Website Dec 2005

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She shot to fame as Toyah Battersby in Coronation Street, but since quitting the ITV soap Georgia Taylor has spread her wings wider, proving there is life (and fame) after Weatherfield.

Georgia was still in her teens when she landed the role of Coronation Street's well-loved character Toyah Battersby - the seemingly only level-headed member of the lairy Battersby family. Toyah was at the centre of several important storylines, entertaining fans of the soap for nearly six years before leaving the street in 2003 to pursue her dreams in London.

Unlike Toyah, Georgia chose to remain in Manchester. Shouldn't she have jumped on a train down south, too? "Oh, no!" she protests. "I love it here. If you smile at someone, they smile back, which is unusual in London. I also like the mix of people we have in Manchester - it is culturally a very interesting place to be. And I love the fact that the city is so vibrant and accessible in terms of the arts."

Living so far away from the capital does not seem to have harmed the 25-year-old actress's career. A prominent role in the comedy TV drama Blackpool and a wonderful performance in Christmas is Miles Away at the Royal Exchange Theatre have kept her in the limelight, and we will be seeing more of her in 2006 as she returns to our screens in a new BBC series.

Georgia lives in an apartment in the city's trendy Castlefield area, which she finds very handy. She explains: "The city is so compact and diverse that I can walk from Castlefield to the Northern quarter in five minutes and find myself in a completely different world."

Georgia's Manchester is a place full of hidden treasures and the best way to explore it is by walking every bit of it. She recommends a tried and tested route for a great day out.

"I would start my day at Jigsaw Cafe at the Triangle for brunch and then go for a trip on the Manchester Wheel. While in the Exchange Square area, I'd pop into Urbis for an hour to check out an exhibition.

"I would then walk to the Northern quarter to spend the afternoon shopping at Afflecks Palace, my favourite vintage clothes shop Rags to Bitches and the Crafts Centre.

"King Street is also great for shopping and so is Kendals and Selfridges but I like the small boutiques and all the vintage and retro stuff you can find in the Northern quarter."

If you don't fancy shopping all afternoon, Georgia recommends the Museum of Science and Industry in Castlefield, which she says is "great fun for the whole family".

She also recommends a stop at Manchester Town Hall. "It's a spectacular building," she enthuses. "People, especially southerners, often don't expect to find stunning buildings like this in Manchester - it doesn't fit in with their stereotypical view of Northern cities."

When the lights go down, Mancunians come out to play and Georgia introduces us to her playground: "In the evening I'd get a huge group of friends and go to a traditional Italian restaurant called Cocotto on Whitworth Street West. It's got a huge painted ceiling and it is in the nicest possible way stuck in the 70s.

It makes you feel you're on holiday in the Mediterranean for a couple of hours. And they really look after you there. "Then I'd go to the Royal Exchange, which is a fantastic theatre, to watch a play.

"Later on, I'd go to 42nd Street - an indie club on Bootle Street, just off Deansgate. It's very studenty and everyone is there for the music so there's never any trouble there. It's just a really nice atmosphere."

Georgia says she also likes the bars around Castlefield, by the canal, "especially in the summer when you get live music and barbeques."

Manchester is hot all year round and if you follow Georgia's suggestions you are guaranteed to have an unforgettable time here whatever the weather. And if you want to give your memory a little boost, Georgia
recommends taking back with you a souvenir that will help you relive the excitement.

"I think people should take back with them a ticket from having been to a great live show in Manchester, whether it is a show at the Apollo or the Royal Exchange. Live art is one of the things we do very well here, and it's a memory you will want to treasure."

All About Manchester website  Dec 2005

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Former Coronation Street actress Georgia Taylor is being hailed as a star of the stage.

The young blonde, who shot to fame as Toyah Battersby, has won rave reviews for her performances in Christmas Is Miles Away at the Royal Exchange Studio in Manchester. The Manchester Evening News recently announced its list of nominees for their prestigious Theatre Awards, with Georgia one of the contenders for the Best Actress In a Supporting Role category.

Georgia arrived in Weatherfield in 1997 with screen clan Janice (Vicky Entwistle), Les (Bruce Jones) and Leanne (Jane Danson). Her character was at the centre of several important storylines, including a vicious sexual attack. After leaving the Street in 2003, Georgia appeared in Blackpool alongside David Morrissey, Sarah Parish and new Doctor Who David Tennant. She has also starred in Nicholas Hytner's movie The History Boys, based on the play by Alan Bennett. 

Yahoo News 21/11/05

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Blackpool To Rock Again

'Remember Blackpool? Not the place, silly, the BBC's all-singing, all-dancing drama. Well its coming back for a one-off special, in the shape of a spin-off starring David Morrissey as Ripley and Georgia Taylor as his daughter Shyanne.'

'This time round the funny caper finds Ripley in dubious possession of the Jules Rimet World Cup. Whatever will he do with it? The drama will be screened to coincide with next years football tournament. Sarah Parish and David Tennant will pop up in cameos, too - hurrah!' 

Daily Mirror 18/11/05

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Coronation Street veteran Georgia Taylor is set to appear in a new movie next year.

The History Boys is the latest project from director Nicholas Hytner and writer Alan Bennett, the team that made The Madness of King George. Based on the award-winning play that ran at the National Theatre, the film is set in Sheffield during the 1980s and centres on a group of young lads studying history, with aims of going to Oxford or Cambridge University.

Also next year, Taylor - best remembered as Corrie's Toyah Battersby - will feature in a fresh series of The Afternoon Play. BBC drama Molly is the story of a young woman who's never happier than when she's spending time with no hope boyfriend Johnny, or tinkering with an engine. One day, through a series of fluke circumstances, she discovers a self-sustaining, emission-free, inexhaustible fuel, and grabs the opportunity to fulfill her dream of helping others - unintentionally leaving her partner behind. However, she soon finds herself in the lion's den of the oil industry as she deals with a host of unsavoury characters. 

Will she succeed in her dream, and will Johnny stick around to find out? You'll have to wait until January to find out. 

Yahoo.co.uk 14/11/05

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GEORGIA Taylor is happy not to act her age - for the next few weeks at least.

The former Coronation Street star is playing Julie Bridges in the world premiere of Christmas Is Miles Away, a "coming of age" drama from the pen of Chloe Moss. Now in her mid-twenties, this Wigan born actress is bringing to life a character who is just 15 when the audience at the Royal Exchange Studio first meets her.

Is it difficult turning back the clock? "I tend to play younger to be honest but this is the biggest age gap that there's been between me and the character," she says.

The play, which is being performed at the Studio as part of the theatre's Little Manchester season, is about two boys, Luke and Christie. The duo have been friends since they were tots and Georgia's character Julie, is the catalyst that causes their lives to follow different paths.

Her own life took an unexpected turn at the age of 17 when she was offered the part of Toyah Battersby in Britain's longest running soap, Coronation Street. Georgia was to tread those famous cobbles for five and a half years. After leaving the Street she popped up on the small screen again in the BBC's comedy drama Blackpool, in which she played the screen daughter of David Morrissey. 

Was working with someone like Morrissey a good learning experience? "I'm always watching people and studying them and I suppose sub-consciously, things start to sink in. What I really respect about David is just how much he gets into character and how much work he does before you even get on set. He's really thorough and really dedicated and that encourages you to work hard and not get lazy about things," she says.

You can read the full interview with Georgia Taylor in the December issue of Lifestyle Magazine.

Messenger Newspapers 30/10/05 Interview with Rick Bowen

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Interview with Lawrence Poole

IT’S a quandary that must have given many a soap actor sleepless nights. Should I jump ship and leave the 
job security and impressive salary behind for the multitude of opportunities that could lay ahead or stick around and hopefully establish myself as an one show institution a la William Roche.

In 2003, after playing a tearaway teen turned feisty twenty-something for nearly six years, Wigan-born actress Georgia Taylor plumped for the former - deciding to leave behind the role of Coronation Street’s Toyah Battersby and turn her hand to something else.

But not before bolstering her reputation with a heart-rendering portrayal of a recovering rape victim and some light-hearted scenes with the Street’s very own Swampy, Spider (played delightfully by Martin Hancock).

A number of high profile television appearances followed before the yearning to return to the live arena of the theatre took over.

Her latest role will see the 25-year-old take to the stage in Chloe Moss’ Christmas Is Miles Away at the Royal Exchange Studio – a nostalgic tale about a group of friends trying to cope with the onslaught of adolescence at the start of the 1990s.

Set to the soundtrack of the Stone Roses - Georgia plays Julie, who in time honoured fashion, comes between two mates when she starts dating one of them.

I caught up with her during a break from rehearsals to find out more:

The show opens at the start of November – have you done much theatre recently?

I did a play in London (The Woman Before) at the Royal Court earlier this year and it was the first time I’d been on stage for a long time. It was a real baptism of fire because the majority of my stuff was soliloquies on my own to the audience! I enjoyed it though and said to my agent that I’d like to do some more as I’d got the bug back. Having a live audience responding to what you are putting out every night is great.

I guess if theatre were as well paid as television, more actors would be willing to do it?

This is the problem; it’s become almost a luxury to do a play. You can’t make a great living out of it, so it is a treat to leave TV or film behind and do some theatre.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is something that everybody has to go through – do you think this is why this play may prove to have an enduring appeal?

I really hope so. Everybody has to go through that really icky teenage phase and what’s been really interesting is during a rehearsal we’ve been sharing our experiences and that’s been a big help. I think everyone will empathise with the characters as we’ve all had a best mate. It’s all about how friendships evolve, as we get older. 

You play Julie who comes between two friends when she starts dating one of them – is that something you'd experienced growing up?

Yeah kind of, although not to the same intensity as is evident in this play. I do remember one of my first boyfriends when I was 16 was a boy that a few of my mates all fancied and I came in and started dating one of the boys they were all in love with! It was quite a short-lived thing though.

It’s been written by a woman and is being directed by one too (Sarah Frankcom). Do they bring a different perspective to portraying adolescent boys relationships?

That’s a difficult one. I’m not sure. What I do find incredible and I’m sure the boys would agree with me, is how well Chloe writes for teenage boys. I think it's very difficult to get into their psyche and use the right language. For me I think the writing is really spot on and really captures that relationship.

The play is being soundtracked by the Stone Roses' music. Growing up in Wigan do you remember that whole scene kicking off?

No I really don’t, it was just a little bit too early for me. I was still on the Stock, Aiken and Waterman hangover! I’m much more into bands now though. I’ve lived here for eight years and would like to think of myself as a Mancunian as I love the place and have enjoyed finding out more about that period, as it was a real cultural revolution at the time.

You are only 25 now and have already had nearly six years on Coronation Street. Do you have to pinch yourself sometimes?

Yeah! It’s really interesting because the more jobs I go and do people seem to be really shocked when I tell them how I long I was in it. I started pretty much out of school so I’ve been really lucky.

The workloads on soaps are notoriously tough. This must be something that has stood you in good stead as your career has gone on.

Yeah I think so. You wonder if you are going to be able to learn lines, but you get on with and you do. That gets ingrained in you when you work on a soap I guess.

You had some pretty torrid storylines on Corrie too didn’t you?

Yeah. Specifically with the rape storyline. Granada were great though. They had a whole team of research people and we went to the crisis centre at St Mary’s Hospital and spoke to the staff about the different reactions of people coming in. It was hard though as there wasn’t really any rehearsal time, but what was great was I knew the cast inside out and you could almost predict how they were going to play it.

What was the reaction of the public when the storyline was broadcast?

I got a lot of mums and daughters coming up to me and saying well done for taking it on and doing it well, which in a really strange way you take as a compliment as you must have managed to bring a bit of truth to it. There was a lot of uproar in the media though, as they thought it was too graphic for that time of night. I was proud 
they gave me the opportunity to be involved in a big storyline like that though.

Thankfully you had a lot of light-hearted storylines too. How was working with Martin Hancock who played Spider?

Oh it was brilliant. They are some of the fondest memories of my time there. It went on for a couple of years as our relationship developed from friendship. We were out protesting, going up trees and all sorts – it was great fun. Even after he left people kept asking me where Spider was!

Jane Danson, who plays your step-sister Leanne, is back in the show again. Would you ever consider a return to the Street?

I’d never rule it out and I never have. I guess I’ve thought about it more since Jane’s been back as she’s one of my best friends and I’ve seen how much fun she’s been having. It does make you think where would my character be at and what could you do with her. The flipside of that is the variety of work I’ve been able to do since I left and it reminds you why you left in the first place. I’m absolutely loving this play at the moment and go home every night tired but with a smile on my face. So you never know, we’ll see what happens.

Manchester Online 18/10/05

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Actress Georgia Taylor loves her two cats - despite the constant vacuuming!

"I've always been fascinated by cats," says Georgia Taylor, best remembered as Toyah Battersby in TV's Coronation Street. Georgia lives with boyfriend Mark, a musician, and felines Bo and Harry.

"I always wanted a cat or dog when I was little," Georgia says, "but we had a rabbit and my parents thought that was enough responsibility. I loved cats though and remember going to a party as a cat.

"As soon as I got my own place, I got a cat. Maggie was black, fluffy and beautiful. She wasn't very sociable. She would let us pet her but only when she felt like it. We had her for 18 months then got Bo to keep her company.

"I'm sure Bo was too young to leave her mum when she came to us. She latched on to Maggie and followed her everywhere. Then, one day Maggie went missing. It was truly, truly horrible."

Sadly, Maggie had been hit by a car and killed. Georgia and Mark were very upset and Bo was also traumatized.

"She had always been really well-behaved but after we lost Maggie, she even did a poo on the sofa," Georgia says. "We thought we had better get another cat right away as company.

"We went to several shelters. Of course, we wanted to adopt them all but settled on Harry. He was five months old and had been abandoned. We thought it would be nice for Harry and Bo to grow up together."

Unfortunately, Bo and Harry only tolerate each other and scraps are not uncommon.

"Cats are all such characters," says Georgia. "Bo is black, with white socks and a white front-shirt, and she's the most affectionate cat. She loves being fussed and has a huge variety of purrs to let us know she's happy. Her favourite hobby is chasing flies.

"Harry is very protective about his food. He gobbles and would steal Bo's food if he got the chance.

"He is white and tortoiseshell and gorgeous. He is more independent than Bo and you have to love him on his terms. He lies on our bed and, if Mark is away, he will get under the covers, though I try not to encourage him because he wants his breakfast so early!"

Georgia says both cats are scroungers. "You can't put a plate down for two seconds," she says, but adds that when Mark is away the cats are perfect companions.

"I love the time I spend with them," she says. "Bo sits on my lap and I know that if I didn't get up to make a cup of tea or go to the loo, she'd stay there all night! If I'm worried or upset I'm sure they know. When the therapeutic purring starts I always feel better. Bo will nuzzle up to my face and it's so calming. You feel chosen.

"Bo and Harry are very fluffy and our flat is covered in cat hairs, so I always seem to be vacuuming. They claw the furniture sometimes too but I wouldn't be without them. We're always buying toys for them though really they're happier playing with a bit of tinfoil. Anything with a feather or ribbon goes down well."

Your Cat Magazine September 2005

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