REAL Housewives of Cheshire legend Dawn Ward is making a sensational return to the ITV reality series after five years, I can reveal.
Her comeback is part of the show’s tenth-anniversary storyline which sees a string of faces from the past appear as guest housewives.
Dawn’s arch nemesis Leanne Brown is also returning, as well as Magali Gorre, alongside series regulars including Lauren Simon, Rachel Lugo and Seema Malhotra.
But Dawn’s return is the one that will send fans wild — and she arrives in style, bursting through a giant cake to screams of surprise, yelping: “The Queen of Cheshire is back!”
Chatting to TV Biz, Dawn laughs: “I very quickly got that tag, but that was nothing to do with me! I was on the show for 12 series and that’s the first time I’ve ever said it!
Facial surgery
“It was so emotional, that first scene, I kept crying — I was so overwhelmed.”
But it sounds like she quickly found her groove and jokes that the new Housewives can’t cut it like her gang, who kicked off the action in 2015.
She said: “I love them and still watch the show, but the new ladies are completely different.
“The OGs had known each other for years before the show started and the history we had meant when you fight, you’re really passionate and it really hurts.
“But I don’t think it would have been fair to the viewers if I didn’t come back and it was just amazing being back with everyone.”
Dawn was ready to be back on camera after having facial surgery in November. Though this had unfortunate implications for her while filming scenes skydiving from 14,000 feet.
She laughed: “I grazed my face on the helmet strap, because I got friction. But because I’d just had facial surgery, my face was numb so I didn’t feel it.
“But I vowed I wasn’t coming back for two minutes on camera. They gave me a very big return.
“The biggest scene was the skydive with Rachel – it was the most horrific thing I’ve done in my life.
“It’s put me off ever going on I’m A Celeb. When you see the people terrified, then they land and say it’s amazing? I didn’t feel that. Neither did Rachel.
“It felt like the earth had sucked me out.
“Before we took off I spoke to my husband, and when I put the phone down I cried in case I never saw him again.”
Dawn’s stint as a guest housewife begins on May 5 at 9pm on ITVBe.
The interior designer and her husband, ex-Norwich City and Derby footballer Ashley, moved to Dubai in 2020, and she’s since appeared in the Real Housewives Of Dubai.
Dawn said: “The Dubai housewives think they can row — they don’t know what rowing is!”
Her knowledge makes her perfectly placed to ponder which Wags might make ideal new recruits as the ITVBe series moves into a second decade — and she chooses Olivia Attwood and Coleen Rooney.
She said: “Olivia would be brilliant and Coleen would be absolutely fabulous because she’s really clever and she’s no wallflower.
“But Coleen doesn’t need to put herself through all that stress.”
Coleen has only recently emerged from the strain of the Wagatha Christie trial, so has probably had her fill of drama for now, I suggest.
Dawn laughed: “Well, I’m sure she has. But cream always rises to the top.”
So Coleen’s arch nemesis Rebekah Vardy doesn’t get Dawn’s backing?
With a wry smile, Dawn added: “I don’t think Becky Vardy’s the right fit . . . she’s not in Cheshire, is she?”
It’s great to have you back, Wardy.
Eyes on the pies, Kiefer?
Kiefer Sutherland tucks into a pasty on the set of a new festive movie[/caption]
Action hero Kiefer scoffed the savoury treat after taking a stroll through the town[/caption]
CHRISTMAS has come early for action hero Kiefer Sutherland as he tucks into a pasty on the set of a new festive movie.
Tinsel Town, which also stars Rebel Wilson and Danny Dyer, has been filming in North Yorkshire market town Knaresborough for the last couple of months.
In a break from shooting, the 24 and Designated Survivor legend scoffed the savoury treat after taking a stroll through the town.
The Sky Originals film is due for release later this year and tells the story of Bradley Mack, an action hero who heads to England when his career goes into freefall.
Chaos ensues when his agent finds him some work to keep him ticking along – in a small village pantomime, Cinderella.
Macy in snub to Celeb BB
I Try singer Macy Gray has deserted another show[/caption]
MACY GRAY found a place in TV history when she stormed off The Masked Singer stage earlier this year.
Now I can reveal that she’s deserted ANOTHER show – Celebrity Big Brother.
The I Try singer was in advanced talks for the ITV reality series and planned to redeem herself after her strop but opted not to go ahead.
A source said: “Macy’s fury at being voted out as Toad In The Hole earlier this year was such a talking point and bosses thought Macy would make a great housemate.
“She’d seemed keen to rewrite her narrative after The Masked Singer but in the end decided not to go ahead.”
Actress Patsy Palmer and politician Michael Fabricant are the newest names to join the likes of Corrie’s Jack P Shepherd and singer Chesney Hawkes in the spy house next Monday when the series begins.
Steve Adolescence 2 nod
STEPHEN GRAHAM says he is up for making a second series of Adolescence after the drama became the biggest show of the year so far with more than 66million viewers.
It comes after The Sun revealed Netflix bosses were keen to order more from the actor, who co-wrote the four-parter with screenwriter Jack Thorne.
The hard-hitting show follows a family whose 13-year-old son is accused of murdering a schoolgirl after being influenced by incel culture online.
Execs hope to look into other teen topics and see it as a theme that could run and run. And Stephen, who played dad Eddie, agrees.
He told Variety: “Let’s see how figures are but yeah, there’s the possibility of developing another story.”
After hitting number one in 80 countries, I reckon the figures stack up, Stephen.
Dad duo heading for fall
THEY’VE jumped out of planes and braved alligator-infested swamps – but it was cleaning windows that almost spelled the end for Bradley and Barney Walsh.
The father-and-son duo revealed that, while filming the last series of Breaking Dad in Panama, they almost plummeted 50 storeys when the crane system began to crack.
Bradley said: “It was like a swing with a plank of wood. We’re hanging from the top of this place and as we step on the plank, Barney’s plank cracks. I am like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to die’. I’m singing to try calm us down.”
Barney added: “I’ve just never seen anything so lackadaisical, it was really frightening.”
Breaking Dad returns to ITV1 tomorrow at 8pm.
HIS show Fun House was on telly for over a decade Pat Sharp said he filmed the Nineties kids’ favourite in just over two months.
The telly and radio host said: “I did one week a year. I took a week off Capital Radio, then went to Glasgow for ITV and made the whole series in seven days.”
