Bad Girls: Before and after they were on Coronation Street

ITV's 8 seasons of the prison drama, Bad Girls, has Coronation Street connections. In keeping with our theme this month of catching up with Coronation Street actors after they left the show, here's a brief run down of a handful that gained notoriety on Bad Girls. There are rumours that the whole concept of the women's prison was inspired by Deirdre's short sojourn in jail, who grappled with her rough cellmate, Jackie Dobbs (when she wasn't crying about how she was innocent!) Bad Girls saw a number of Coronation Street actors, some of whom came to the Street after their roles in the nick and some of whom landed in G-Wing after leaving the cobbles. So who were these actors? Click through to find out!

Deborah Stevenson gained a high profile playing Shell Dockley, a pathological liar who was convicted of kidnapping, torturing and murdering the woman that stole her boyfriend. We know her as Frankie Baldwin, sweet and kind, good mum and long suffering wife to Danny. Good think Leanne didn't know about Frankie's past!

Amanda Barrie's character, Alma, died of cancer. Amanda went to Bad Girls and played Bev Tull for a few seasons, a woman who perpetrated fraud. She and her partner in crime continued scamming inmates and had no pangs of guilt whatsoever! Very different from our Alma!

Eva Pope was on our screens for a couple of years in the 1990's as bitch and boyfriend stealer Tanya Pooley! She went down in Corrie history as one of the more notorious bad girls on the Street. In Bad Girls, she played Frances Meyers but Frances was a prison administrator not a prisoner. She was tough as nails and determined to keep the bad girls off the street!

The only ex-Coronation Street male actor to land in Larkhall prison. He was the governor of G-Wing, Neil Grayling who landed in a spot of bother himself. He was gay but married a fellow prison guard as a "front". He was one of the good guys though, but came to a sticky end, dying of Legionnaire's Disease! Of course, we know him as barman Vinnie Sorrell, erstwhite lover of Natalie Barnes. When Natalie left town, she was pregnant with Vinnie's baby!

Other actors that made brief appearances in Bad Girls include Joanne Froggat who played Zoe Tattersall on Coronation Street. She played a young woman incarcerated for drug possession. She was timid and scared and ended up being the victim of Shell Dockley's violent jealousy. Wendi Peters, who now plays common-as-muck Cilla Battersby Brown, played psychotic Pam Jolly, just for 2 episodes in one of the early seasons. She was almost unrecognizable to the face we are used to seeing now!

Edited to add: Janet commented that I had forgotten Denise Black and so I did! Denise played alcoholic Jessie Devlin for three episodes in season one and I can still remember the stunning scenes where she was suffering the DT's in a cell! Well remembered, Janet!