Zoe Lucker won't let her daughter watch 'Footballers' Wives' because there's 'so much sex'
Zoe Lucker won't let her daughter watch her perform in Footballers' Wives because of the level of sex in the noughties drama.
The 47-year-old star told The Sun that she's shielding her 12-year-old daughter, Lily, from the show since its debut on the streaming service BritBox.
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"There was so much sex, and people remember it for that," said Lucker of the telly hit, which aired between 2002 and 2006 on ITV.
She portrayed protagonist Tanya Turner in the show, which focused on fictional club Earls Park FC and the personal lives of its players.
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In one notable scene, Tanya trigged a fatal heart attack in club chairman Frank Laslett after plying him with a fatal cocktail of viagra, alcohol and cocaine
Lucker added: "You just didn’t see things like that on telly back then, especially at nine o’clock on Wednesday night on terrestrial TV.
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"But my daughter is 13 next week and I don’t want her to see it, because of the sex.
“I’ve told her it’s coming out but I’m just going to get her to avoid watching it. Nobody wants to see their mum doing something like that — it’s not right.”
Footballers' Wives achieved eight million weekly viewers at its peak, but was cancelled in 2006 amid falling ratings.
Though Lucker would be up for taking part in a Footballers' Wives revival, she's not sure many of the more extreme storylines would get past telly execs today.
She said: "I’m not sure we could get away with as much, and any writing team would have to tone things down a bit.
"It would be a real challenge for the writers to keep the original feel of the show and for it not to offend people.
"It was not a PC show at all and certain points of reference that were being used then certainly wouldn’t be allowed now.”
After her time on Footballers' Wives, Lucker went on to appear in the 2009 series of Strictly Come Dancing with professional partner James Jordan.
She subsequently joined the cast of EastEnders, playing businesswoman Vanessa Gold between 2010 and 2011, and portrayed matriarch Carol Barry in the final few series of classroom drama Waterloo Road.
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The latter show was another brainchild of Footballers' Wives creators Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus, with whom Lucker has frequently worked.
She crossed over into another of their shows, Bad Girls, in its sixth series, reprising the role of Tanya from Footballers' Wives.
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