British TV star Gaynor Faye has long been a familiar face on some of the nation’s most beloved soaps, from her iconic stint on Coronation Street to her later role as Megan Macey in Emmerdale.
Now, speaking on behalf of new online bingo brand Zingo Bingo, the actress and writer reflects on her time in the soap spotlight, sharing behind-the-scenes memories, and why soaps continue to resonate with audiences today even with the rise of streaming.
She also opens up about the future of storytelling on screen and touches on her own journey into writing, following in the footsteps of her late mother, Kay Mellor, who created hit UK TV shows such as Fat Friends, The Syndicate and more.
Speaking on behalf of Zingo Bingo, Gaynor Faye says:
Could you talk a bit about some of your best memories from your role as Megan Macey on Emmerdale and how it feels looking back at it now?
Yeah, I mean, Emmerdale was great for me. I never thought I'd do another soap after Corrie but Emmerdale's in my hometown, it's Leeds. My kids were at an age where they were doing their GCSEs, and they were into high school. I just thought, do you know what, I need to be at home, because I've done a lot of theatre and I've been touring and so I wanted to be at home with the kids. This role came up because, in fact, the producer at the time created the role for me, which was lovely because I went out for a different role, but they were like, ‘That's not right for you, we'll create a role,’ so, I ended up being Jason Merrell’s sister in the big house. It was lovely because I went into Home Farm, so I had all these amazing outfits because I was like a businesswoman. That was great fun, the fact that she was straight in as a bit of a baddie really, because obviously Jason Merrells’ character was a bit… anyone who's in the big house is a bit of a baddie. Well, not a baddie, but, is somebody who people will butt heads with, which is always great to play. So yeah, I loved it. I love working with Jason Merrells and obviously I got to work with Sammy Winwood when she was there and lots of other cast members. I used to butt heads a lot with Charity, that was great fun. I poured paint over her head, we had all sorts of fights, we had punches in the ballpark, it was just really good fun. To be honest with you, it feels much more, it's like a family, I know it's a cliche, but it really is, because everyone's very happy in their work. I mean it certainly was like that when I was there. Everybody just wanted to make really good TV and, and have fun with it. We had some great directors, some really good writers, a really good production team, and some fab actors. I loved it, and I love dressing up in those outfits. I would never wear full fitted skirts in real life! I'm a jeans and trainers kind of girl, but to put on the power outfit and to be able to say nasty things to people and get away with it because I'm a real people pleaser in real life. I would never say half the stuff that came out - it was great.
Are there any characters you think could work really well together from either of the soaps?
Obviously Theo in Corrie and maybe Aaron from Emmerdale, there might be something there that could happen, if they wanted to shake it up a bit. Or, you could get Charity in there with Carla? There's maybe a bit of some of that something there. Charity, mind you, she's just having another baby, isn't she? Maybe Laurel and Carla? You never know what they might plan next. Do something different. Do something that's revolutionary. I remember when I was in Emmerdale. There was a talk of me, me and another character having a relationship, me and Harriet, Megan and Harriet together. In the old fashioned world, love is love. It's not a case of, suddenly they turned their sexuality. It's a case of you just falling in love with somebody. It would be good to see more storylines like that.
Looking back on your time on both shows, are there any really memorable moments?
When I was in Corrie, I was very, very lucky because I was in it during the golden years of Corrie with the likes of Bet Lynch, Sarah Lancashire, the Duckworths, Maud, Reg Holdsworth, those kind of icons. I mean it wasn't quite Pat Phoenix days but it was iconic. Just sharing that space with Jack and Vera [Duckworth], moving into their house, they took us under the wing. Then watching Joanne Froggett, who's now a huge star, watching her as a complete novice, come in and like have no idea about the world of acting. It wasn’t a mistake, but she went with a mate to the auditions, to audition herself and she got the job and so she was real raw talent. Working with her for a year and watching how she grew within the show was great. Working as a barmaid in the Rover's Return gave so many iconic moments.
It's been a while since you've kind of stepped away from both the soaps. Are you still in touch with many of your co-stars from Emmerdale or Corrie?
I was with Laura Norton, Zoe Henry, Charlotte Bellamy, Emma Atkins, Nat Rob and Mark Jordan. We were all together on Friday because Laura and Mark have a charity called Cure Rush, supporting Cure Rush syndrome. We did a lunch for people who bid on it in the auction at the Ivy Asia, which was wonderful. It was great for us all to unite together again and have a really good old chinwag. They're the ones who I mainly stay in touch with. We kind of all live close by. I touch base with Jason Merrells too. It's quite a small world. I think people think it’s a big world, but it’s not, so we cross paths a lot, but they're the main ones I stay in touch with.
Why do you think soaps like Corrie and Emmerdale have still managed to capture audiences even in the growing world of streaming?
The soaps, Corrie, Emmerdale and EastEnders, etc. have all been going on for so long now. Obviously, they have some very loyal fans. I think that’s because they're all relatable. There's a character in there for everybody. There’s a mix of humour, drama, you can make people laugh and cry in the same episode. There's characters that you really invest in, the stalwarts of the show too. I think we really need to hold on to that. It shouldn't just be about stunts. It should be about people having conversations, because actually, I think you have to be careful, like keep on bombarding with drama, drama, high action, because I know that that's what people like, but actually, in reality, we want to have a bit of an escape from the real world, and that's what the soaps did so well. There's chats between characters we love, there's a lot to be said for these two handers. The fact that they keep going and they every day there's an episode on, and it's whipping. It's got a beginning, middle and end. It's hard to sustain that, but they do it so brilliantly. I think it's because they're relatable and everyone can see themselves in somebody in the character. They deal with really sensitive issues and unfortunately with drama, you shoot a drama and then it's down, eight months down the line, if you're lucky, it's going out. Whereas a soap is 6 weeks later, it's going out, so it's still topical.
There’s been some chat from fans recently that Corrie has become too crime-focused - what do you think of that?
It's very difficult because obviously with soaps they're trying to cater to what viewers want. What people want now is fast action, everyone seems to be wanting to watch crime dramas and true life, true crime. I know what's happening with the soaps, they're wanting to keep up because obviously there's a need and there's a thirst from the public for that. I also think we really need to be careful about doing too much of it because actually, like I said, the world is a pretty horrific place at the moment. I think that giving people somewhere to escape to is essential. There's a really good balance to be had. You want the ‘Have you seen that?’ water cooler moments too. Being a writer myself and obviously being on the other side of the camera sometimes, I know that people want that, but you've also got a kind of obligation to serve the people who don't want that too, who will be able to watch something which is lighter, so balance is everything.
A lot of soap actors are such good comic actors as well and are really funny!
Simon Gregson, he’s just so funny. People love to watch him and obviously in my time, there were so many comic actors. We had Vera and Jack, Maud who was extremely funny, and then there was Deirdre's mum, Blanche. There were so many and Mavis, those characters are essential to keep. You need those characters, and if they haven't got those characters, get them in! Get the new ones, we need to make new comedy stars.
Do you have any particularly memorable moments from Fat Friends, any funny anecdotes? What's the overall feeling from that time for you?
We did a thing called the Fat Friends remix. We had a sound guy on, on the show, and we did a thing where we all dressed up in ABBA outfits. We did this remix version of Mamma Mia. It's there somewhere and I don't know where, I'd love to get it back out there because it's very funny. We used to do little things like that, like off camera, so a lot of this stuff that happened off screen We also went on the Trisha show. That’s like going on Jerry Springer, so the Fat Friends people went on Trisha. It was quite funny to do something like that, which is mixing genres.
We were always getting up to fun stuff off camera.
How’s it been for you to turn your hand more to writing in recent years?
I’d been writing with my mum for quite a long time. I wrote on Fat Friends. That's why I'd love to do it again because I wrote on quite a lot of the episodes of Fat Friends, because there were so many series. She used to start them off and then I'd carry on and I'd write episodes and would bring other people in. I think Ruth wrote an episode of Fat Friends as well. That may be where she started out actually. I wrote on Playing The Field, which was about women's football. Then I wrote on The Chase, and I script edited all of mum’s stuff over many years. I've written for a long time, and now I'm just trying to get my own work on, which will be great. To carry on my mum's legacy is essential, she was groundbreaking for women. Her work was groundbreaking for the North and for working class women. Band of Gold was huge, it was one of the biggest shows that went on, and she kind of laid down the path for female writers, directors, producers., creatives. Rollem was the first northern independent company in the north. She mentored Sally Wainwright, she mentored Ruth Jones, she mentored me. I really want to keep her legacy going on because I have a feeling that if she was a male writer who'd written all the massive shows that she did, there'd be a season of her work, and her shows would be constantly going, a Key Mellor season. I've been busy keeping her legacy going with her work, and it's in very good hands, so I can go back to acting, which is great, because obviously it's such a different thing with the company compared to acting. I'm lucky that I've managed to move and do a bit more acting now, but [I want to] keep her company going, keep her legacy going and hopefully get Fat Friends back out there. The syndicate which I took on tour, she'd started it, she'd workshopped the theatre show, so there was one draft of it. Myself and the other producer who did Fat Friends Musical with her, we both said, let's get that out there, so we just did it. She'd written notes on the first draft after the workshop, she'd written loads of notes on a script. So I put all her notes in and kind of did another draft of it with her stuff, which was all essentially her work, but also putting in things that I knew she wanted to do. We took it on tour. It was brilliant. Everybody who saw it loved it. It was just great to get her name out there and do something that I knew she wanted to do. I'd love to tour Fat Friends the musical again. I’d love to get Band of Gold, the stage play out there again, and, you know, continue and see if we can get Fat Friends back on screen.
There is a continuous conversation going on, especially in the world of TV and film, that not enough is done to represent women over a certain age. Projects like ‘Hot Flash’ - which you’re involved in - are really important to make sure this happens - but how do you feel about that?
I'm going to talk about my mum again because she was writing about women of a certain age for a long time. She was always giving women a platform. She did something called Girlfriends, which was Zoe Wannamaker, Miranda Richardson and Phyllis Logan. Even In The Club, there were older women having babies. Then, the other show she did, The Syndicate, had young people and older people. She's always championed older women, right from Band of Gold days, you know, Geraldine James was in that, Cathy Tyson, and Barbara Dixon, all these women. She'd have Samantha Morton in there as well. It's really important and now Sally Wainwright's doing it, which is fantastic. It's essential we keep writing these parts, and, obviously, Hot Flash is going to be the first film that's actually dealt with this topic, as in front and center, being the main character. There's been bits about menopause in films, but this is the first time it's been a feature film - which is fantastic. It's really important that we keep writing for women and giving them a platform, 100%.
