best for CELEBRITY
Liverpudlian and Loose Woman Sunetra Sarker has gone back to her comedy roots – and is enjoying playing pranks, especially on her son…
She’s know for making us giggle and now Loose Women panellist Sunetra Sarker – famous for her roles in Casualty, Brookside, No Angels and, more recently, Ackley Bridge – is going back to her comedy roots with a brand new show. The 50-year-old mum, who is married to second husband Scott Carey (he runs their company selling anti-bacterial products), is part of the cast of ITV’s latest comedy G’wed, streaming on ITVX. Set in a school, it follows the lives of working class Liverpool teenagers, including tearaway pupil Reece, who is handed one more chance from the Head when he’s asked to take southerner Christopher under his wing. Here, the star – who is mum to Noah, 23, from her marriage to ex-husband Nick Corfield – chats about the show, loving her Liverpudlian roots, and why she likes to keep her son on his toes…
Hi, Sunetra. What first appealed to you about G’wed?
I missed being thought of as a comedic actress. In the early days, shows like No Angels and The Smoking Room were my first opportunities to show I had a little bit of comedy in my toolbox, but nowadays I’m thought of more for drama. So when I first heard there was a comedy set in Liverpool, which might be a little bit like The Inbetweeners, I was happy they’d thought of me.
Was it an immediate ‘yes’?
I read the script in one hit and just really enjoyed it. I think maybe because it was written in my native tongue – I grew up in a school where we spoke a lot of slang, and I haven’t had a chance to ever use or hear that level of Scouse banter since then. Even without seeing the scenes I would be involved in, the whole show gave me a lot of faith that Liverpool would be shown in the right way. Obviously, humour is such a big part of being Liverpudlian… alongside football!
The show is set in a school. Are you looking forward to having a younger audience?
Yes, doing [Channel 4 school drama] Ackley Bridge was interesting, because I still get so much love for that show from so many people who I’d never have thought would be chatting to me – I’m far older than the actors they tend to watch on TV. I got a lot of love from those 16- to 24-year-olds and they really take to you if they get the show and enjoy it. When I filmed G’wed I didn’t know what the end result was going to look like, so there was a lot of trust on my part, but now I’ve seen the episodes you can just sense there is an audience that will really feel the excitement for this show.
