Coronation Street actor Beverly Callard's company has gone into voluntary liquidation. The 66-year-old set up a personal services company called JMBJ Limited after stepping down from her role as Liz McDonald in 2020.
JMBJ was set up to handle her acting pay after leaving the ITV soap. However the company has gone into voluntary liquidation, owing the tax man £101,654 in outstanding tax and VAT.
Liquidators revealed the debt is unlikely to be repaid, reports MirrorOnline. Callard and husband Jon McEwean took out directors' loans from the firm worth £114,124, with documentation stating it is uncertain how much of that will be repaid.
The actress last year took a swipe at the writers of the hit soap as she spoke of why she doesn't think the “scripts are as good now”, in comparison to when she first made her appearance as Liz in 1989. She played Liz for 36 years and has confirmed she won’t return despite fans calling for her to go back.
She snubbed a big-money contract last year as Corrie bosses desperately tried to persuade her to go back. The Mirror has reached out to Bev’s reps for further comment.
Her latest money woes come after the 66-year-old was declared bankrupt in 2012. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror at the time, the soap star revealed she had suffered a mental health breakdown, was caring for her mother who had Alzheimer’s and her pub business with husband Jon went under.
At her lowest point, her bank cards were declined in shops and she had to borrow cash from friends just to buy food. At one point she and Jon survived on just one meal a day.
She shared: “It has been hell keeping everything secret. Since the bankruptcy became public people think I’m a showbiz diva who frittered her cash away on expensive dinners and fancy clothes. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Bev stopped working to care for mum Mavis in the final stages of her Alzheimer’s Disease, before she sadly passed away in 2012. It was then she became unable to pay the huge medical bills she racked up in 2009 while in a psychiatric ward undergoing electric shock treatment for depression.
The money she and Jon still owed from when the pub went under finally led to her bankruptcy.
“It was horrific,” she said. “I’ve worked non-stop since I was 16 and somehow it all seemed it had been for nothing.
“We’d come to the end of the road. We had no money. I felt embarrassed and exhausted.”
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Bev says she knew her mother didn’t have long left to live, so wanted to spend as much time as she could with her. But although Bev began working again, returning to Corrie in 2013, she quit the show for good in June 2020.
Her character wasn’t killed off – instead she got in a taxi and viewers were told she was heading to live in Spain with son Andy. She later took aim at the soap for not being given good enough storylines.
Three years on, Bev is taking on more acting roles and recently starred in British sitcom Newark as Pauline. According to her Instagram, the Leeds-born star is also doing voiceover work and partnering with brands on social media.
