EastEnders actress achieves rare feat of starring in all 4 UK soaps like Denise Welch – can you remember all her roles?
SOAP fans have been left stunned after realising a classic EastEnders star has pulled off an impressive TV milestone – appearing in all four major UK soaps.
Just like telly legend Denise Welch, the actress has racked up roles in EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks over the years.
Yorkshire-born actress, Ishia Bennison, 75, has also appeared in all four major soaps.
Although she is also a veteran stage actress, she best known for her television appearances.
Ishia became a household name after she appeared in EastEnders as Guizin Osman from 1985 to 1989.
Her character Guizin was the long-suffering wife of the womanising Turkish Cypriot, Mehmet (Haluk Bilginer).
She faced tough times in the Square after her husband gambled away the mortgage money on their house, and cheated on her several times.
Guizin soon had enough and moved abroad with her children to start a new life.
Ishia was candid about her experience with fame, describing it as both surreal and strange.
In an interview in 2003, she said: “It was the start of the soap and the fame was very instant for everybody. You’re in everybody’s front room and everyone feels they own a bit of you.
“I’ll never forget having to sign people’s sickbags on the hovercraft to France. My daughter wouldn’t walk down the street with me at the time. She would stay 10 paces behind. I still get recognised from EastEnders. I can’t believe it.”
She then joined Coronation Street in February 2000 as Alison Mawdsley, a masseuse who offered her services to Fred Elliott while shopping in Freshco.
Next she was Vivien Andrews in Hollyoaks: In The City in 2006 in an hilarious storyline involving dog poo.
Vivien met her daughter’s boyfriend, Adam Tyler, for the first time, but he made a poor first impression as he hadn’t realised that he had stood in dog poo and walked along their new carpet.
Adam accidentally blocked the toilet and was caught attempting to cover this by throwing poo out the window which landed in front of Vivien, leaving her horrified.
One year later, Ishia arrived in Emmerdale as Jackie Stiles in January 2007.
Soap's biggest whodunnits
EastEnders – Who shot Phil Mitchell?
The “Who Shot Phil?” storyline was a whodunit mystery that captured the attention of viewers and the media. The episode revealing the culprit was watched by 23 million viewers. Lisa Shaw, Phil Mitchell’s former girlfriend and the mother of his child Louise, was revealed as the killer as Phil slept with Lisa’s best friend. Phil forgave Lisa, and they agreed to keep the truth a secret.
Coronation Street – Who killed Tina McIntyre ?
The popular actress Michelle Keegan played Tina McIntyre for several years on the Cobbles, but she ended up being killed by Rob Donovan in a tragic turn of events back in 2014 when he chased her onto the balcony of the Builder’s Yard. When she tried to leave, he pushed her and she fell off the roof, with Rob convinced he killed her. With Tina still alive, he attacked her with an iron bar but she survived that attack and was rushed to hospital as doctors tried to save her.
Emmerdale – Who pushed Emma Barton?
Emma was then pushed off a viaduct by Moira after she talked ill of her dead daughter Holly, who died of an overdose in October 2017. Although Moira was responsible for Emma’s death, her son, Adam Barton, took the fall for the murder since he was already a prime suspect and he didn’t want Isaac to grow up motherless.
Hollyoaks – Glove Hand Killer
The Gloved Hand Killer was a mystery serial killer, who claimed the lives of 7 characters between January and October 2015, all by injecting them with potassium chloride. The Gloved Hand Killer’s targets were all people who had done wrong in some shape or form. There were 6 suspects for who the Gloved Hand Killer was, and the killer’s identity was revealed in October 2015. It was revealed to be doctor Lindsey Butterfield who had been killing people at the hospital.
She played Jo Stiles‘ mother who turned up unannounced in the village and revealed that Katie Sugden invited her to stay.
Mother and daughter immediately began to chide one another and their feud culminated in a vicious argument in the Woolpack.
Katie was shocked and ordered Jackie to leave.
Ishia’s other television credits include The Storyteller, The Bill, Holby City, Casualty, A Family at War, Burnside, At Home with the Braithwaites, True Dare Kiss, Happy Valley and New Tricks.
In more recent years, Ishia has gone back to acting in stage productions, starring in some of Shakespeare’s classic plays such as Macbeth and Richard III.
But will any of her soap characters make a comeback in the future?