Liz's Struggle

[sootycat]

From Digital Spy



Former Coronation Street star Liz Dawn has admitted that she found it almost impossible to film Vera Duckworth's death scene.

Last month, viewers saw Liz bow out as Street favourite Vera after 34 years of playing the role. She was forced to retire due to her battle with the chronic lung disease emphysema, which caused breathing difficulties for the actress when she was on set.

Vera was found dead by her husband Jack (Bill Tarmey) when he returned from a visit to the Rovers Return. The couple had been making plans to move to Blackpool.

Asked about the death scene, Liz explained: "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. My biggest problem was trying not to breathe. If you notice, Jack threw his overcoat over me, which made it easier."

Dawn spoke about her health problems in an interview for Trevor McDonald's Tonight show, which airs on ITV1 at 8pm tomorrow.

"I would have carried on, but I knew I couldn't do it any more and it wasn't fair on the rest of the cast to suddenly be took ill," Liz said.

The actress is now planning to live at her villa in Spain with her real-life husband Don.

It's a horrible horrible disease is Emphysema, I hope the sunnier climate is beneficial to her.
The medical facilities over there probably are !

[RitaLittlewood]

After she got up and sang with Bill the other week I have sympathy with her. I never had much to start with considering the things she did while saying she was limited. As I've said many times before, my dad was diagnosed with emphysema in 2003. He's not on oxygen yet but there's a lot he's unable to do and summer is the worst time. The heat makes is harder to breathe and he struggles just walking to the end of the street. He sleeps a lot as well because even doing simple things tire him out. I also had three uncles up north with it (two heavy smokers and an alcoholic) and none of them had oxygen either. Two died younger than the other but the other was 73 and dropped dead walking the dog. He'd had it longer than Liz or my dad, was obese and had a heart so bad they were unable to perform a quadruple bypass. So basically Liz is soooooooooo bad she's (presumably) flown to Spain when she reckoned to need oxygen constantly (she said when it was announced it was on the set) and she's going to live it a hotter climate which will make her struggle to breath more. May as well have stayed in this country. Can't lug oxygen tanks around everywhere with her. Nothing she's doing now matches how bad she said she was in 2004 or 2005 (whenever it was first in the paper). I'm not saying she doesn't have it, in case anyone's wondering. I'm just saying it's looking more and more like she's been exaggerating for sympathy and it's not as bad as she claimed. At that time I said she should quit if she's having trouble working but she didn't. That's when any sympathy I had began to disappear.

Patsy

[Nick]

And when Trevor said 'Who's decision was it to actually kill Vera off'
she replied 'Well they could have had me going off to Blackpool and coming back every now and then,but I didn't really want to do that,so there was no option but to kill her off'

How about her going to Blackpool and not coming back..but living a happy life'?

it was obvious she was covering up for the producers who wanted her killed off to boost ratings

[RitaLittlewood]

This old 2004 Sun article is very telling:

Liz: I'll chuck Corrie in
By JULIE MOULT

Published: 11 Oct 2004

CORRIE legend Vera Duckworth could be KILLED OFF, after actress Liz Dawn threatened to quit.

Liz, 64, has revealed she may leave The Street next year because the workload is too tough.

And she does not want the door left open for her to return.

The news will come as a blow to soap chiefs.

But Liz said: “I have had enough and I am tired. There are other things to life, like family.

“I have a villa in Spain so I am looking forward to spending much more time in it. I’m afraid I will be leaving Jack behind with the dog.”

Liz, who earns £150,000 a year, has eleven months left to run of her contract.

Producers hope she will change her mind.

A source said: “Liz is undecided about what she wants to do but she reviews her position every year when her contract is up for renewal.

“She can’t and doesn’t want to go on forever and has made no secret of that. But she hasn’t made any firm decisions yet, she’ll give it more thought next year.”

Liz joined the show 30 years ago. She went on to become half of one of soaps’ best-loved couples alongside Bill Tarmey, 63, as Jack.

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Now she was already diagnosed with emphysema then yet using the same excuses now. Her workload lessened after that piece yet she was 'so sick' according to the 2005 articles when it was announced she had the disease. I wonder even more why she didn't quit then.

CORRIE LIZ: SHE NEEDS OXYGEN ON STREET SET
By Ben Todd, Showbiz Editor And Alan Rimmer 18/09/2005

CORONATION Street legend Liz Dawn is battling an incurable lung disease.

Liz, 65, who plays TV's most famous busybody Vera Duckworth, has been diagnosed with chronic emphysema.

It has left the £200,000-a-year star so breathless that at times she has had to be given oxygen on the Manchester set of the soap.

The condition leaves the lungs inflamed and can cause heart failure. Heavy smokers are the most likely victims.

Liz - who smoked 30 cigarettes a day for more than 40 years until a cancer scare - has been fighting the disease for 18 months.

Last night she told the Sunday Mirror: "I'm doing really well."

She paid tribute to her doctor, saying: "I'm just grateful that I have found a fantastic specialist."

Liz, who has starred as "Our Vera" in Corrie for more than 30 years, is battling the disease supported by her husband Don Ibbertson and her four children.

Close friends and fellow cast members, including Bill Tarmey, who plays screen husband Jack, have also been unflinching in their support.

Liz, whose parents died of cancer, is determined to carry on working.

She said her doctor had come up with a medication that allows her to continue to star in Corrie.

"He's worked out a medication that means I can carry on doing what I love - which is being a mum and a grandma and working on Coronation Street." A friend added: "Liz has been at a really low ebb. It has been hard going and at times she has feared the worst.

"But recently she has found a specialist who has sorted out her medication. That has made her far happier.

"She knows that emphysema can kill and that it is a daily battle she has to confront " A Corrie spokeswoman said: "Liz is a highly valued and popular member of the cast. She continues to work as hard as ever.

"She loves her job and throughout her health problems she has wanted to carry on working."

In the 1980s, TV viewers barely saw Liz's character Vera without a cigarette in her mouth.

Her topsy-turvy marriage to Jack made them national favourites as they tried to cope with the antics of their tearaway son Terry.

But Liz suffered a health scare 10 years ago when she started coughing up blood at home and thought she was going to die.

She admitted at the time: "I'm a smoker and I really thought I had cancer. I've never felt such terrible fear. I've tried to give up five times in the last five years, but always failed because I love smoking so much.

"I know it is bad for my health. My dad smoked Woodbines and lung cancer killed him at 70."

Liz then told of her "overwhelming relief" when doctors ended her nightmare by telling her she did not have cancer, but was suffering from stomach ulcers.

The experience made the actress determined to help cancer sufferers. She later raised £1million for a breast cancer unit at St James's hospital in her home city of Leeds.

In an interview four years ago, she told how the death of her beloved mother Annie, who died of cancer in 1975, made her realise just how fragile life was.

She said: "I'd never known death in the family and it was devastating to lose my mum. She was only 57, a wonderful woman who worked all her life in a tailoring factory. She always amazed me by giving so much and caring for other people.

"When she died it made me realise I wanted to do everything I can to help cancer charities."

She added: "I'd hate to end up in a hospital bed knowing I'm going to die and wishing I'd done more.

"Now I can lie in that hospital bed and think, 'Thank God I've done everything I possibly could'."

Liz joined the cast of Coronation Street in 1974. In 2000 she was chosen as Lady Mayoress of Leeds. She was also awarded an MBE.

She first married at the age of 18 but divorced in 1959. Liz then met electrician Don. They married in January 1965 and live in a bungalow outside Manchester.

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My dad saw that Tonight programme and said she's more active than he is! There's a bloke who shops in Waitrose with really bad emphysema. He uses a motorised scooter and has an oxygen tube attached up his nose. Where's hers if she's as bad as she claimed back then and now?

Good point there, Nick. Absolutely no reason not to have Vera leave. Many do and never return. As she wanted out for 3 years, why didn't she just go?

Patsy

[pearly queen]

I hope that Liz enjoys her retirement and spending time with her family. Despite loving her job, it IS just that a job, and she needs to put herself first. Big shame for all us Vera fans out there, but we can't expect Liz to wear herself out in order to entertain us.

I agree that they could have let her go into the sunset, and not kill her off. It leaves Jack at a loose end, and I'm not particularly looking forward to him getting jiggy with another laydee from the street, shudder. It is unlikely to be realistic, or sensitive, and he's way too old for Carry On style 'sex comedy' scenes.

[RitaLittlewood]

I had a text yesterday about that. In yesterday's Sun apparently even though we knew just over a week before they were planning that. I told him we already knew and it was just a rehash of that. He went quiet. LOL! I still have my doubts it will come to anything. Jack will be just lonely but won't be able to go through with it surely.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

I watched the programme on Monday and it was interesting. They really did stress the fact that had she now quit smoking she would be dead now. The doctor who spoke on the show said it is mainly a smoking disease so this should act as a warning. Especially that poor woman they showed who carried on smoking and eventually died.

It is sad to see Liz leaving, but the only way they could have lived happy ever after in Blackpool was if Jack had left too and Bill clearly wants to continue. Death was the only way of splitting Vera and Jack up.

[RitaLittlewood]

So does one my dad knows and talks to on the bus. She's in her 60s and doesn't care.

Then she should have gone a few years ago.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

I think she left it until now to go as she has reached the point where its all too much for her.

[RitaLittlewood]

No. According to the 2005 article when it came out it was already too much for her when she said she had oxygen on the set. As it is supposed to be controlled and she's done far less than 2005, how could it have got too much for her?

Patsy

[RitaLittlewood]

letstalksoap.proboards34.com/index.cgi?board=corrie&action=display&thread=1137371392 Couldn't find the 2005 one but here's 2006 which shows she should have gone sooner.

Patsy

[sootycat]

I still reckon this Jack romance will come to nothing.

I can see ladies of a certain age rushing round with casseroles, sympathy and stuff. ( And Jack running a mile )
As if he would be interested in anyone else, it's totally ridiculous.

[RitaLittlewood]

It is. He only loves his little swampduck despite being an unfaithful sod over the years.

Patsy

[Nick]

Old Vera did a bit of running around behind Jacks back too when she was younger

[CG Wendy]

I saw that episode a few weeks ago Nick....where Vee used Bet Lynch as her alibi to go see another fella and it was Bet who Jack was seeing on the sly lol
;D

[RitaLittlewood]

Yeah but she was never as bad as Jack. They loved each other deep down otherwise they'd never have stayed together.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

ritalittlewood said:

No. According to the 2005 article when it came out it was already too much for her when she said she had oxygen on the set. As it is supposed to be controlled and she's done far less than 2005, how could it have got too much for her?

Patsy

Well maybe at the time she could manage with the help of Oxygen and the reduced workload but now she cannot manage even that so quit.

[RitaLittlewood]

But she can get on stage and sing and move to a hot climate which won't do her any good and make it harder for her to breath?

Patsy

[sallywebster]

I didnt realise that the climate made a difference - they never said anything on that programme?

[RitaLittlewood]

Well they wouldn't. It's the humidity. Same if someone has a bad heart condition. Heat causes problems. My aunt couldn't even go out when the air was still in summer. Having windows open made no difference so my cousins bought her air-con for the house to help her breathe easier. Towards the end of her life she needed oxygen. My dad often turns the heating off because his lungs have to work harder which causes more problems and in summer it's a nightmare for him even setting foot out of the house. No air-con and a fan often is not much help, depending on the humidity. His last breathing test result a few months ago showed he hadn't got any worse and he was diagnosed in December 2003. He couldn't even go to my aunt's funeral in 2005 because he's unable to travel. Yet he's not as bad as Liz is meant to be but can do far less. For her to live in Spain she will either be housebound because it will be too hot or have a tube up her nose constantly. The climate will do her no favours if she's as bad as she says therefore it's foolhardy to move to a hot country.

Patsy

[RitaLittlewood]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but this article from the Daily Mail has made me mad with that woman again:

Corrie couple Jack and Vera reunited at TV awards
Last updated at 08:03am on 15th April 2008

Beloved Coronation Street couple Jack and Vera Duckworth have been reunited.

But Corrie viewers can be assured Vera isn't making a Bobby Ewing-style comeback from beyond the grave - actors Bill Tarmey and Liz Dawn were only back together off-screen.

Tarmey, 66, and Dawn, 68, were thrilled to see each other at the TVNow Awards in Dublin on Saturday night.

Dawn, whose iconic Corrie character Vera died in January, was at the glitzy ceremony to pick up a Lifetime Achievement Award for her 34 years in the northern soap.

Dawn was just one of a host of Coronation Street stars who swept the board at the annual TV awards, beating rivals EastEnders and Emmerdale.

Kym Ryder was named Favourite Female Soap Star for her portrayal of barmaid Michelle Connor, while Jack P Shepherd was named Favourite Male Soap Star for his performance as Weatherfield bad boy David Platt.

Dawn stunned Corrie fans last year when she announced her decision to quit following years of poor health.

After being diagnosed with the incurable lung disease emphysema in 2004, Dawn requested to be written out of the ITV drama.

Her character died of heart failure on her sofa in No.9 Coronation Street on January 18, leaving husband Jack devastated.


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She is sooooooooooooooooooo sick yet travels to Dublin when they could have pre-recorded an acceptance speech. Her actions do not match how ill she says she is. I won't even repeat what my dad said about it. Trying to avoid too much bad language.

Patsy