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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Zara Woodcock

Byker Grove's Debbie Dobson star youthful as ever almost 30 years after series

Byker Grove star Nicola Bell looks as youthful as ever almost 30 years after her last appearance on the show.

The actress played Debbie Dobson, who was an imaginative and lovestruck member of the youth club from 1990 until 1994. Nicola also returned to play a cameo part in 1995.

The series aired between 1989 and 2006 and focused on the lives and relationships of a group of young people who are members of a youth club.

It tackled many hard-hitting topics from child abuse and drug addiction to homophobia and abortion.

Nicola - who now goes by the last name Garraway - was a huge part of the BBC young adult series.

Her character left both Lothario PH (played by Ant McPartlin) and his best friend Duncan (Declan Donnelly) heartbroken.

The actress also briefly dated Ant in real life too.

After leaving the dramatic series, Nicola only continued with her acting career for a short while.

In 1995, she appeared as Candice in an episode of the legal drama Kavanagh QC. A year later, she played a female TV reporter in Crocodile Shoes II.

Almost a decade later, in 2003, Nicola had a role in Paradise Grove.

She has the same bright smile almost 30 years on (Instagram/ @nicolagarraway_)

When she decided to stop pursuing her acting career, she became a flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic.

However, she later changed careers yet again and is now a make-up artist.

She is a woman with many talents as she is also a qualified level 2 and 3 PT instructor.

The mum-of-four often takes to social media to share gorgeous selfies, beautiful make-up looks, and sweet family moments.

Nicola is now a make-up artist (Instagram/ @nicolagarraway_)

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Quite a few stars from Byker Grove decided to steer away from the spotlight.

Billy Fane, who played Geoff Keegan, was an integral part of the series until his character was killed in a gas explosion in 2000.

When he was 58, Billy graduated with a distinction from a postgraduate education course at Hull University. The actor, now 75, even got himself a job teaching a six different prisons throughout the north of England.

Lyndyann Barrass - who was part of the original cast - was just 12 when she joined the show as surly, hormonal teen Kirsty 'Spuggie' Campbell.

And after a failed stint with a band called Angel, she was subjected to a brutal assault that convinced her to turn her back on fame.

"I was beaten unconscious in the street by three strangers who recognised me as Spuggie," she told The Sun.

Ant and Dec are still a huge part of the UK's television scene, with the two hosting endless shows. The most famous actor to come out of Byker Grove is Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunman.

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