Eight years on since soap fans saw Coronation Street star Paula Lane grace the cobbles, the much loved actress has finally returned to our screens, this time in rival soap Emmerdale.
Making her debut as the character Ella Forster, fans will first see the new character when she loses her job after sticking up for Mandy Dingle, the girlfriend of Paddy Kirk, at the annual veterinary ball.
Ella, who soap bosses have described as “far from a pushover”, will soon find some good luck coming her way, when a chance meeting with Manpreet Sharma opens up an opportunity that is impossible to resist.
Former Coronation Street star Paula Lane has swapped the cobbles for the Dales as she takes on a new Emmerdale role
Ahead of her return, we took a closer look at Paula’s far less dramatic life off screen…
Early Life
Born and raised in West Yorkshire, Paula started life in Hebden Bridge
(Image: lane_paula/Twitter)
Born and raised in West Yorkshire on 17 April 1986, Paula first started life in Hebden Bridge, near Halifax where she attended Halifax Catholic High School and then later moved on to Huddersfield Technical College.
Having discovered a love of performing in her childhood, Paula later went on to win a highly coveted place at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and officially graduated from the prestigious institution in 2008 with a 1st class honours degree in Acting.
Career
Paula Lane first shot to fame in Heartbeat before joining the cast of Coronation Street
(Image: Instagram/@paula_laney)
Immediately following her graduation, Paula was snapped up by ITV producers who cast her in 60s police drama Heartbeat back in 2009.
A string of other small roles then followed including in The Royal, Doctors and Going Postal.
Her breakout role however came in 2010 when she was officially cast as Kylie Platt, the half-sister of Becky McDonald in Coronation Street, a role she went on to hold for around six years in total.
After over half a decade of delighting audiences, sadly Kylie’s time on the soap came to an end in 2016 when her character was brutally murdered in the street by Clayton Gibbs – the son of Shona Ramsey, who is now married to Kylie’s former husband David Platt.
Widely considered by fans to be one of the most heartbreaking scenes in Coronation Street history to date, fans were in floods of tears as David begged and pleaded with his wife to stay with him as she slowly succumbed to her injuries.
Paula Lane, pictured here with husband Tom famously played Kylie Platt for six years on Coronation Street
(Image: Mcpix Ltd/REX/Shutterstock)
The reason for Paula’s exist from the show initially came so that she could take maternity leave, however after some careful thought she decided she would prefer a permanent ending rather than a temporary one.
After leaving Coronation Street and dedicating her time to her family, Paula was eager to pursue other roles outside of Weatherfield.
Since then, Paula has played the part of Vera Sands in Call the Midwife and Emily Harris in Father Brown.
She has also appeared in a number of stage plays, including Be More Martyn at Southwark Playhouse, The Bengal Lily at Manchester Royal Exchange, and Road at Oldham Coliseum.
Soap Star Husband
Paula Lane is happily married to her college sweetheart Tom Shaw
(Image: Instagram/@paula_laney)
Away from our screens, Paula is happily married to her college sweetheart Tom Shaw, who eagled eyed fans may recognise from his supporting roles in both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
In 2017 and 2018, Tom played Kim Vaughan on the cobbles. Kim was an old friend of Fiz Stape’s, having both been brought up in the same care home.
Kim tracked Fiz down to reconnect, much to the dislike of Fiz’s then-boyfriend Tyrone – until Tyrone found out Kim was gay.
Meanwhile in Emmerdale, Tom has played village police officer Craig Bishop on and off across eight episodes between 2014 and 2019
Tom and Paula first met while attending Huddersfield Technical College back in the 00s and later went on to tie the knot in 2014.
Together they have two children, a son named Arthur and a daughter named Penny and happily live together in their quaint Yorkshire home.
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