Tracy Shaw (born 27 July 1973) is a British actress and singer.

Early life

Shaw was born into the hotel and pub trade, at the time when her parents ran the Talbot Hotel in Belper, Derbyshire. She attended Saint Ralph Sherwin Comprehensive School (now

Saint Benedict Catholic Voluntary Academy Saint Benedict Catholic Voluntary Academy is a Catholic secondary school with academy status in the Darley Abbey district of Derby. The school maintains a Catholic ethos, being the only Catholic secondary school in the City of Derby. It educ ...

) in Derby, learnt classical dance at Hilda Davis School of Dance, Belper and went to the

Arden School of Theatre The Arden School of Theatre, also known as The Arden, is a drama school which is part of the Performing Arts faculty at UCEN Manchester in England, United Kingdom. History The school was founded jointly by the Royal Exchange Theatre and South ...

in Manchester in 1990, where she got a degree in theatre studies.

Career

Her best known work is as

Maxine Peacock The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' in 1995, by order of first appearance. Daniel Osbourne Daniel Osbourne is the son of Ken Barlow (William Roache) and Denise Osbourne (Den ...

in the long-running soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Orig ...

''. However, Shaw came into conflict with the show's bosses after they reportedly tried to cut her pay by £20,000 a year and she bowed out from her role as a result. Shaw's character met a tragic end in the episode screened on 13 January 2003, when she was murdered by

Richard Hillman Richard Charles Hillman is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Brian Capron. He first appeared on 20 June 2001 and became the show's main antagonist until his eventual departure on 14 March 2 ...

(played by

Brian Capron Brian Capron (born 11 February 1947) is an English actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He is best known for his role as serial killer, Richard Hillman, in the long-running ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street'', f ...

). She has also appeared in numerous ITV dramas. In 2003, Shaw appeared as Sally in the stage play '' The Blue Room'', starring alongside

Jason Connery Jason Joseph Connery (born 11 January 1963) is a British actor and director. He is the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. On screen, he is best known for appearing in the third series of the ITV drama series ''Robin of Sherwood'' in 1986. He ...

. Since the birth of her children Shaw has made the occasional return to acting and has performed in several national tours including ''Mum's the Word'' (2010), ''Busy Body'' (2011) and ''The Cat and the Canary'' (2021), as well as lead roles in pantomimes in Worthing and Southsea. She also had a short lived pop career in 1998, releasing two singles on the Love This Records record label, "Ridin' High" and a cover of

Lonnie Gordon Lonnie Gordon (born November 8, 1965, Philadelphia) is an American female dance, pop and R&B singer and songwriter. She scored several chart hits during the 1990s, most notably for her 1990 UK top 10 single '' Happenin' All Over Again''. Earl ...

's top 10 hit, "

Happenin' All Over Again "Happenin' All Over Again" is a song written and produced by Stock Aitken & Waterman for American singer Lonnie Gordon's first album, '' If I Have to Stand Alone'' (1990). It was released as the album's second single on January 15, 1990, and rea ...

Personal life

In May 1996 she was presented with the

Rear of the Year Rear of the Year was a British award for celebrities who were considered to have an attractive posterior. It was created by publicity consultant Anthony Edwards in 1976. Initially, it was awarded only to women, but in 1986 the first award was ...

title. She had a series of high-profile romances including one with Alex Moscovich and also an engagement to

Darren Day Darren Day is an English actor, singer and television presenter, well known for his West End theatre starring roles. Early life Day's paternal grandfather was a support act to George Formby in the days of music hall. Day undertook drama classe ...

, which led to an array of media stories of cocaine use. She married Robert Ashworth in June 2001, but a series of early problems occurred including a row on a return flight from the Caribbean after she had been filming ITV's '' Wish You Were Here...?''. In 2015 Ashworth blamed phone hacking for ruining his career and marriage. In 2003, her father Karl Shaw was featured in an article in the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...

'', and said that Shaw survived on "three bottles of wine and a packet of crisps a day". He also said that if "she carries on this way it will kill her". She made moves to turn her life around including spending two months in rehab in America and leaving her husband. Before this she had set up an eating disorder charity called The Tracy Shaw Foundation which helps teenagers combat eating disorders, as she had struggled with

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

during the 1990s, and at one stage her weight plunged below six stone. Her marriage ended in divorce in 2004, and Shaw set up home with and subsequently became engaged to childhood friend and Cisco Sales Manager Ashley Poundall, the son of her mother Anne's boyfriend of eight years, Colin. The couple currently live in

Caversham Heights Caversham Heights is a residential area within Caversham in the English Royal County of Berkshire (until 1911, in Oxfordshire). Today Caversham is a northern suburb of the larger town of Reading. The name Caversham Heights traditionally refers t ...

, Berkshire and have two sons Louis (born February 2005) and Luca (born September 2006)..

Stalker

In 2000, stalker Kevin Sedgwick pleaded guilty to harassing Shaw over a period of five years. He had written a number of letters to her, as well as

co-stars

Jacqueline Pirie Jacqueline Chadwick (''née'' Pirie, born 10 October 1975) is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her roles in the British soap operas ''Emmerdale'' (1994–1996) and ''Coronation Street'' (1998–2001), playing Tina Dingle and Linda Sykes ...

and

Jennifer James Jennifer James is an English actress. She played the role of Geena Gregory in '' Coronation Street''. References External links *Geena Gregory Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English television actresses {{en ...

, and hung around the grounds of Granada Studios in Manchester, put his arms around Shaw, and asked for a kiss. Sedgwick pleaded guilty later that year to multiple acts of gross indecency with children and had suffered from hearing voices in his head.Fortunecity.com

Discography

1998: "Happenin' All Over Again" – UK No. 46
1999: "Ridin' High"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Tracy English soap opera actresses 1973 births Living people People from Caversham, Reading People from Belper