10 Soap Stars With Ruined Lives
10 Soap Stars With Ruined Lives
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, where we’ll be discussing 10 soap actors who happened to fall upon tough times.
Craig Fitzpatrick
“Waterloo Road” is set in a comprehensive school in Lancashire. For the first three series, Craig Fitzpatrick played character Lewis Seddon. In 2007, he became controversial for abusing his pregnant girlfriend. This led to an arrest warrant when he was absent from the trial. In 2008, he went missing entirely after threatening his girlfriend. His life went further downhill in 2020, after he brutally threatened a family with a machete. Fitzpatrick started destroying the family’s windows while under the influence of multiple substances. This incident got him an 18-month jail sentence, and he hasn’t acted in anything since 2014.
Sandy Ratcliff
In the 70s and 80s, Ratcliff became an established name for her role in the early days of “EastEnders.” She played Sue Osman between 85 and 89. When the cameras weren’t rolling, Ratcliff struggled with substance use disorder, which was highly publicised. In 1991, she made her final public appearances after her boyfriend was accused of murder. He was given two life sentences for this crime. She had two more minor roles in her career, but retreated from show business entirely. Later reports said that in her older years, she was living on only £70 a week, but no longer used substances. She endured three strokes and eventually died after struggling with cancer.
Paul Nicholls
Our next star from “EastEnders” is Paul Nicholls, known for playing Joe Wicks in the 90s. Nicholls quit in 1997, then ended up struggling with substances afterwards. He still managed to maintain a fairly consistent career until the late 2010s. In 2017, Nicholls broke both of his legs in an accident in Thailand, which caused him to be trapped beneath a waterfall for three days. Things got worse in 2018 when he tragically had a stroke. This led to Nicholls becoming depressed and dependent on substances soon after. Thankfully, Nicholls has cleaned up and is trying to make a comeback. In 2023, he took a main role in the BBC series “Phoenix Rise”.
Charles Lawson
Our list now takes us to Greater Manchester, the setting for “Coronation Street.” Actor Charles Lawson played the character Jim McDonald for over 1,000 episodes of the series. In 2012, he and his wife started their own farm shop in Cheshire. It was an admirable endeavour, but it ended up in serious debt and had to close down in 2018. They owe tens of thousands of pounds, and now Lawson is in heaps of legal bother. That’s not the first time he’s struggled financially. In 2001, he went bankrupt after owing £200,000.
Youssef Berouain
In 2013, a teenage gang began terrorising the residents of “EastEnders”. One member was Tayo, played by Youssef Berouain. After the arc’s conclusion, he maintained a relatively solid acting career in the 2010s. In 2020, his career ended after a terrifying car crash. Berouain was driving 60 in a 30 zone, leading to him crashing into an Uber, causing the death of Caroline Atkinson, the mother of cricketer Gus Atkinson. Berouain fled to America, but was finally brought back after a four-year battle. In 2024, he was found guilty and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years behind bars.
Katie Jarvis
Jarvis is best known for playing Hayley Slater from 2018 to 19 in “EastEnders.” Her acting career dates back to 2009, but a decade later, she took a break from show business. Soon after, the tabloids discovered Jarvis was now working for B&M as a security guard. They relentlessly job-shamed her, making Jarvis feel highly degraded. In 2020, she got into trouble for what police suspected was a racially-motivated assault. They ended up sentencing her to two years of community service in 2022, which severely damaged her reputation, making it unlikely that she’ll return to acting.
Bruce Jones
Jones first joined the cast of “Coronation Street” in 1997 as taxi driver Les Battersby. He remained on the show until being sacked in 2007. This was due to allegations that he’d drunkenly insulted soap fans and leaked plot details to a reporter. The incident made it a huge challenge for Jones to find work. This resulted in him drinking heavily, and then in 2009, he almost killed his wife in a drunk-driving incident. That wasn’t his first time getting in trouble for driving drunk either; it had happened once before in 1998. Jones was optimistic about returning to Corrie in 2020, but in 2024, his character was killed off-screen, making it an impossibility.
Marc Anwar
Sharif Nazir was a “Coronation Street” regular from 2014 to 16, played by Marc Anwar. His time on the series ended with a plotline of him having an affair, which got him kicked off when his wife learned. This arc had to be massively edited after he made some scandalous remarks on Twitter. Nazir said some extremely offensive comments about Indian people, which got him almost instantly axed. He apologized soon after, but the damage was done. Anwar’s acting career never picked up again, but in the 2024 elections, he tried to become an MP for Bury North. He started a GoFundMe, but only raised £668, and ended up getting 1.3% of his constituency’s votes.
Bruno Langley
Our next “Coronation Street” regular played Todd Grimshaw for over 700 episodes, from 2001 until 2017. In the end, Langley was fired after he was accused of assaulting and harassing a woman at a venue in Manchester. By the end of the year, he’d pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months of community service. His chances of maintaining an acting career diminished severely. So, in 2021, he decided to pivot to music. Since the announcement, he’s released a couple of singles and currently has around 50 monthly Spotify listeners, so it’s hardly working out. Langley hasn’t provided any updates since about 2021, so it’s unclear how he’s currently doing.
Cheryl Fergison
Heather Trott was the defining role for Cheryl Fergison. She was a regular face on “EastEnders” from 2007 until 2012. The same year she left, she appeared in “Celebrity Big Brother.” In 2025, she released an autobiography, which revealed that after returning from the reality series, she was scammed by her own accountant. It led to an immensely difficult period for Fergison, who had to use food banks to survive. She was also diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015, which has thankfully been treated. Despite all the challenges, Fergison soldiered on and kept strong throughout it all. So while her story is deeply tragic, the strength she showed despite it all is massively inspiring.
Were there any entries we forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments section!
