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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Hana Carter

Inside Toyah Batterby actress and Gogglebox star Georgia Taylor's family life

Coronation Street's Georgia Taylor has spoken of her heartbreak as she waved goodbye to her on-screen husband Charlie De Melo - but who is the actress married to off camera?

After meeting her famous husband on the set of another drama, Georgia lives a very different life to Toyah Battersby, who is married to Charlie's character Imran Habeeb in the soap.

Firstly, her real name isn't Georgia Taylor - it's Claire Jackson.

She explained the reason for her name change to The Mirror: "It's not that I planned this to happen.

"But when I started with Coronation Street I had to register with Equity, the actors’ union, and at the time there seemed to be a hell of a lot of Claires so I had to think of something else."

Georgia Taylor is married to Mark Letheren (realgeorgiataylor/Instagram)

"I couldn’t tell you where I got Georgia from, other than I liked it, but my grandad’s surname was Taylor and he passed away not long before I got the part.

"As a teenager I didn’t really think the consequences through of opting for a completely different name, but it’s meant there’s been quite a bit of confusion over the years. At this point I’ll pretty much answer to anything!"

She still has Claire on her passport, and her mum Caroline uses her birth name.

But on the Corrie set things are a little more confusing as half the cast call her Georgia and the other half call her Claire.

"It was a few weeks into the job before I was able to change my name so to everyone there at the time I was Claire Jackson, although I was Georgia Taylor in the credits. Then when I left in 2003 I went out into the world as a jobbing actress, and everyone called me Georgia.

"That was the case for years and years, and some of my very best friends call me Georgia.

She was born in 1980 in Wigan and realised her love for acting as a teenager after attending the Willpower Youth Theatre.

Georgia and Mark live together in Bristol (instagram.com/realgeorgiataylor)

Georgia stepped onto the cobbles when she was just 17 years old in 1997 and embraced her role as Toyah.

Fans will be pleased to know that the 42-year-old has a far nicer husband in real life - and he too is an actor.

She met Mark Letheren, 50, on the set of Casualty together in 2008.

He played counsellor Ben Harding in the now canned hospital drama as well as journalist Simon Kitson on The Bill.

She first joined Corrie when she was just 17 years old (realgeorgiataylor/Instagram)

He also played DS Kevin Geoffries in the ITV crime drama Wire in the Blood.

The couple don't have children and live in Bristol together.

Mark is a keen photographer and Georgia regularly appears in his creative shots.

In one of the photos she stands in front of a bright green door below a sign which reads "Salford Lads Club".

"Am I Salford Lad now?" she asked playfully in the comment section.

In another photo he captured the back of her head, as she gazes across a beach towards a watch tower in the distance.

The couple were parents to their fur baby, Audrey - a beautiful tabby cat.

In January last year, Mark shared a selection of photos of their cat with the sad caption: "Anyone who follows my feed will have been introduced to Audrey.

"Unfortunately she has not been doing so well recently and we sadly had to say goodbye to her yesterday. Utterly heartbroken. May her ears be forever rubbed, wherever she may be. We loved and love you."

She spends a large amount of her time in Manchester filming Corrie so spends a lot of time commuting.

She previously told Soaplife magazine: "I have a base in Manchester, but my home is in Bristol. I don’t plan to relocate, but I’ll play it week by week and see how much I’m loving that M6 drive!”

(instagram.com/realgeorgiataylor)

Georgia will return to our screens on Celebrity Gogglebox, where she will be joined by her best pal and fellow actor Sunetra Sarker.

She shared a photo of the two of them giggling on the sofa, with the caption: "Guess who's back...?"

Rylan, who also stars in the hit show, broke the news that the show will be making a comeback on June 10 with a new series.

The star found a love for acting when she was a teenager (WireImage)

There will be a number of new celebrities joining the show including Lorraine Kelly, Geri Halliwell and Clare Balding.

Speaking about Charlie's Corrie departure, Georgia said that she was "heartbroken".

"Heartbroken! I adore him, he’s been an absolute dream," she said when asked how she felt about no longer working with him.

Cheating Imran and Georgia preparing to say their vows at the altar (Cheating Imran and Georgia preparing to say their vows at the altar)

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Georgia, who has been acting beside Charlie for three years now said: "He is so funny. We laugh a lot but also, he is one of the most supportive people I've ever worked with. And look at him, there's no complaints there either, he’s beautiful!

"He's been amazing, but also, I'm so excited to see what he'll do next. The opportunities will be endless for him, I think he's going to fly."

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