Vickie Gates was born in Liverpool on the 1st of July 1976 and made her television acting debut in the Merseyside soap, 'Brookside' (1992-2003) at the age of 16 when she became best known as Leanne Powell, a nasty and devious woman. Initially portrayed as bad influence on her friends, she left the series in 1993 but reprised the role in 1997 when the writers made her more outlandish and portrayed her as a prostitute. Vickie told a reporter from The Sunday People that playing Leanne "has left me with the worst frown lines imaginable because I had to walk around all week being vile and pulling faces."
In between her 'Brookside' appearances she was in an all-girl pop band called 'Dream Reality' and appeared notably in 14 episodes of 'Springhill' (1996-97), a black comedy drama which based its main theme on the battle between good and evil, entwined around a complex family drama. Set in Liverpool, some of the scenes with young Vickie were filmed at Bootle High School. She also appeared in episodes of 'City Central' (1998), 'Liverpool 1' (1999) and 'Going Off Big Time' (2000) before having a major part in 'The Bill' (2003-05). Vickie was recruited for 'The Bill' just months before Channel 4 axed 'Brookside', playing Sun Hill receptionist Marilyn Chambers. Marilyn embarked on a relationship with Reg Hollis but on the day that Reg was going to propose to Marilyn, Police Community Support Officer Colin Fairfax drove a petrol soaked van into the station reception and Marilyn died from her injuries leaving Reg and viewers broken hearted.
Having just returned from holiday, producer Claire Philips had given Vickie the shock news of her departure from the show. Vickie said: "Claire called me in and was asking me how my holiday had gone. I just said, 'Oh Claire, don't tell me you're going to give me the sack?' "She said that unfortunately, come January, there won't be any Marilyn. I felt like a huge rug had been pulled from under my feet. I cried for hours and the first thing Claire did was reach for the tissue box."
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| as Marilyn Chambers |
Vickie had married long term lover Kevin Lundon, a data analyst, in February 2004 after meeting him in a nightclub in Liverpool, which turned out to be the exact same place her parents met too. She said, "I hope it's not jinxed, though, because they're divorced now. Kevin has a son from a previous relationship but the couple don't want more children. More TV work followed with 3 episodes of 'Mobile' (2007), followed by 5 episodes of 'The Royal Today' (2008). Minor roles followed then in 'Grange Hill' (2008), 'Being Eileen' (2013) and finally 2 episodes of 'Emmerdale' (2015). She has supplemented her television work with appearances in the short film 'The Last Straw' (2000) and appearing in the 'Vagina Monologues' Her other TV appearances have included Abbamania 2 (2004) and in 2005 was the winner of ITV's 'Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes', as Maria McKee singing 'Show Me Heaven'.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/11/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-leon.html
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