FOR 13 years, Kym Marsh was best known as vulnerable but resilient barmaid Michelle Connor in Coronation Street.
Now, as the singer-turned-actress prepares for her 50th birthday, she has transformed into a villainous heartbreaker in her raunchiest role to date.
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Kym Marsh admits some steamy scenes in Channel 5’s The Imposter were cut for being too risquéCredit: Getty
Kim unbuttons her top as Amanda in Channel 5 drama The ImposterCredit: Channel 5
Drama The Imposter, which starts on Channel 5 tomorrow, is so sizzling that Kym says some of the sex scenes had to be cut because they were too risqué for our TV screens.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun on Sunday about the show, set in a sprawling family-run seaside hotel in Australia, Kym added: “Episode two was particularly raunchy. It’s the flashback to London where she first meets her Australian lover.
“There was quite a lot of stuff that I believe they’ve had to tone down. I spoke to the executive working on it and he said, ‘Hey, you did it so convincingly’, and I was like . . . thanks.”
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Kym, who plays scheming and seductive Amanda in the four-part drama, admitted it felt “brave” and “powerful” to take on such a steamy role at the age of 49.
She said: “I’ve done a few things on stage but they are very tame in comparison to this role.
‘Brave moment’
“The crew and the cast were so respectful, and the director was brilliant. Everyone just made you feel very safe and obviously we had an intimacy co-ordinator on set.
“But you know what? I went into it and I was a bit like, ‘I’m 49 years old, I’m not as body confident as I used to be’ because as you get older, you’ve got that kind of thing going on. And I’m on screen kind of barely dressed.
“There was a little bit of nerves, but honestly, as soon as I set foot on set, I was totally relaxed because they really made me feel so much better about everything.
“I feel like it was a brave moment for me. Not just because of the fact I flew all that way, and was there on my own.
“I felt quite powerful at that point, and then doing these scenes, things I’ve never done before, I just felt really, really good about it.
“I hope people are like, ‘Wow, I never expected Kym to do that’.”
The actress flew out to Melbourne for six weeks over the summer to film the drama, alongside Jackie Woodburne (who played Susan Kennedy in Neighbours) and Aussie superstar Dannii Minogue.
So it was just a case of trusting in each other and being close enough to look real, but it not be, obviously, actually touching each other
Kym on acting out intimate sex act
In one scene, Kym’s on-screen lover had to have his head between her legs as they simulated a sex scene.
Kym said: “We were trying to work out how we were going to do it. They were like, ‘Do you want to have a cushion there?’. But we couldn’t really because you would have seen it.
“So it was just a case of trusting in each other and being close enough to look real, but it not be, obviously, actually touching each other.”
While mum-of-three Kym is looking forward to seeing everyone’s reaction to her villainous character, there is one person who will be skipping past her sexy bits.
She said: “My son David wants to watch it and support me. I’m just a bit like, David’s a 30-year-old man and I said, ‘There are these scenes’, and he just went, ‘Oh, I’ll just fast-forward those bits, you can just tell me what happens’.
“And I was like, ‘OK’. Whereas my mum can’t wait to watch them. My mum’s well into it.” Kym, who won a part in band Hear’Say in 2001 after appearing on ITV reality series Popstars, had two No1 singles before going solo and chalking up two more top-ten hits.
In the grip of desire as her character gets down to it in steamy scenesCredit: Channel 5
Kim teases her lover’s body with her tongue in sexiest role to dateCredit: Channel 5
Then in 2006, her role as barmaid Michelle Connor in Coronation Street saw her acting breakthrough, and she went on to win two Best Newcomer awards in 2008.
In 2017, she won Best Female Dramatic Performance at the British Soap Awards for a still-birth storyline that mirrored her own tragic loss of baby Archie in 2009.
More recently, she played canteen worker Nicky Walters in BBC school drama Waterloo Road, and she regularly presents the BBC’s Morning Live on breakfast TV.
Kym, who took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, is currently in rehearsals alongside Lisa Faulkner for the stage adaptation of 1990s thriller Single White Female.
She will be performing the show as she turns 50 next June. So what’s her secret to still looking so good?
She said: “I don’t know. At the moment, everybody’s saying that they feel like I look really well. Personally, I don’t know, is it my HRT?
“It’s funny because my fitness level is not quite as it should be at the moment.
I’ve got a painting of my dad that someone very kindly did for me so we always put it near the dinner table so he’s there
Kym on her late dad
“I’m not quite as fit as I was simply because, after Strictly, I was plagued with quite a lot of injuries and it took me longer to get over those than it would have done when I was younger.
“I’ve also been so busy. It’s trying to make time for myself, which I’m trying to do more of.
“I’m just trying to find the moments in my downtime to be able to do those things for myself, have some nice skin treatments and a bit of micro-needling. I’m trying to make time for me.”
She may be approaching the menopause but Kym is grateful that times have changed and that she has been cast in such a sexy role as her part in The Imposter.
‘Happy place’
She said: “We’ve seen these roles appearing for women of a certain age, and I think there’s much more opportunity than there was before. It’s great and quite empowering.”
Kym recently went Instagram official with her new man, a fitness enthusiast called Tom.
He will be away for Christmas but Kym said: “All I will say is that I am very happy at the moment.”
In his absence, Kym, who has daughters Emilie, 28, and Polly, 14, as well as son David from previous relationships, will be spending Christmas with her family as she eagerly awaits the birth of Emilie’s second child and her latest grandchild.
She said: “My daughter is due any day now. She’s due on the 27th of December, but I don’t think she’s going to go that far. She was a week or so early with her first. And she’s having a few twinges, and other things are happening.
Kym, right, with fellow cast members Dannii Minogue and Jackie WoodburneCredit: Fremantle Australia / Paramount
“I haven’t cooked us Christmas dinner in years, and the reason for that is because we’ve always gone over to Emilie’s. So this year I said I’d do it.
“I have literally moved in opposite them. Emilie was like, ‘We’re fine, we’ll do it’.
“Unless, of course, the baby comes on Christmas Day, and in that case I’m basically on standby to be Santa, and to make Christmas dinner.
Kym lost her beloved dad David in January 2024 following a long battle with prostate cancer.
This Christmas will be the second one without him.
She said: “It’s tough, but having kids in the family really helps.
“My mum is excited about the new baby as well. The only thing is she’ll be like, ‘Oh your dad would’ve been really proud,’ and with The Imposter and everything.
“It’s all the things that I know he would’ve loved that make you go, ‘Oh, it’s just grim’.
“I’ve got a painting of my dad that someone very kindly did for me so we always put it near the dinner table so he’s there.”
- The Imposter starts tomorrow night on Channel 5 at 9pm.
