How old is Amanda Barrie and who is the Celebrity Big Brother 2018 star and ex Coronation Street actress’ wife?
AMANDA Barrie thrilled Corrie fans for 20 years and came back into the spotlight on Celebrity Big Brother 2018 earlier this year.
But what else do we know about the soap legend, who was evicted from CBB just days before the final? Here's the story of her life and her career...
Who is Amanda Barrie?
Amanda Barrie is an English actress who had starred both on the stage and TV, most famously being in Corrie for two decades.
She was born in 1935 in Lancashire and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the actress launched her career in a number of TV, film and stage roles.
Her net worth is unknown.
Amanda entered the Celebrity Big Brother House in January 2018 and at 82, she was one of the oldest housemates to have ever appeared on the show.
When was Amanda Barrie in Real Marigold Hotel?
Amanda starred on the second series of The Real Marigold Hotel TV series.
The show, which is inspired by the hit movie, saw Amanda and other celebrities travel across India to see if they would be able to hack retiring overseas.
The second series featured TV host Bill Oddie, Paul Nicholas from ‘80s sitcom Just Good Friends, singer Sheila Ferguson, entertainer Lionel Blair, snooker player Dennis Taylor and TV personality Rustie Lee.
When was Amanda Barrie in Coronation Street?
Amanda made her mark on the famous British soap in the mid-1980s, before being offered a contracted part in 1988.
She played the character of Alma Sedgewick, also known as Alma Balwin and Alma Halliwell.
Her role was featured in many key storylines, including her complicated marriage to character Mike Baldwin and a supermarket siege.
She decided to leave the show in 2001 and her character was written off in a cervical cancer death storyline.
What TV shows has Amanda Barrie been in?
Corrie isn’t the only show long-time show she has worked on.
She starred as inmate Bev Tull from the fifth to last series of ITV prison series Bad Girls.
She's been in a number of pantomime roles, including playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella in the Grand Theatre, Blackpool.
And Amanda has even been in Doctors for nine episodes, Benidorm and took part as one of the celebrities in Hell’s Kitchen in 2004.
What about Amanda Barrie’s personal life?
Amanda had been married twice, firstly to theatre director Robin Hunter in 1967.
Hunter sadly died in 2004 and never had any children together.
In her autobiography, It's Not a Rehearsal, she came out as bisexual and was publicly in a relationship with Crossroads actress Heather Chasen.
On September 14, 2014, she married her current spouse, English crime novelist Hilary Bonner.
In an interview on Loose Women, she revealed that she didn’t come out as gay in case she was fired from her job.