TROLLIED Bev Callard tried to seduce Corrie co-star Charlie Lawson after a drunken night in the pub - dressed only in a white thong and socks.

And the Rovers Return siren reveals how Charlie - who played on-screen hubby Jim McDonald - was often so tipsy on set she organised cover-ups to hide it from soap bosses.

Bev's shock admissions come in her blistering new autobiography, exclusively serialised in the News of the World.

Last week we told how a devastating breakdown pushed her to the brink of suicide.

And today she spills hilarious backstage secrets of Britain's best-loved drama - like the hijinks she and Irishman Charlie, 50, enjoyed on frequent stay-overs at the Commercial Bar behind Granada Studios before early morning filming.

Flirty

One night, still married to third husband Steve Callard, Bev matched big tippler Charlie drink for drink then started chatting up another co-star she refers to only as Vincenzo, who was to play Liz's ex-lover. Bev recalls:

"After a while I was off my face. We were all having a hysterical time. The more I drank, the more outrageously flirty I got with this guy who Charlie insisted on calling 'Vincey Baby'.

I'm not usually like that but the bloke must have thought: "Yes, I'm in here!"

He was coming on to me big style and I was thinking: "Oh, great!" Then this Vincey Baby said to me: "Shall I take you upstairs?"

I lurched round to Charlie and slurred: "Charlie, I'm just going upstairs with Vincey Baby. We're only going for a cuddle." But Charlie was having none of it. "No you're *******ing not!" he said.

"I am, I am, I am!" I was saying, even though I really didn't know what I was doing. And then it all started getting a bit heated between the two guys. Vincey Baby, who was a bit of a cockney, said: "You all right Charlie?"


PALS BUT NOT LOVERS: Bev & Charlie still mates
"No, I'm not" said Charlie. "If she does anything with you she'll be so *******ing sorry in the morning. She's married with a wee baby. You can't do this!"

"Well actually, it's none of your business," Vincey Baby replied. Now Charlie was boiling. "Right, I believe tomorrow we're on set at 7.15 and we've got big scenes together. Do you want to play those scenes with a broken jaw? You are NOT taking her to bed!"

At that, Vincey Baby disappeared, leaving Charlie to pick me up, carry me to my room, plonk me on the bed and leave.

I was saying: "Oh Charlie, don't leave me! Don't leave me!' But he's a very honourable man and went back to his own room.

He'd only just shut the door though when there was this knock, knock, knock on it and a voice calling: "Char-lie! Char-lie!"

It was me - wearing nothing but a white thong and white socks.

He knew I'd regret it in the morning if anything happened, so he took me back to my room again, put me on the bed then laid next to me all night with his arms folded and still wearing his jeans, leather jacket and Timberland boots!

How rough did I feel the next morning? Oh my God!"

Bev - who has starred as firebrand Liz McDonald for over 20 years - says Charlie's drinking was legendary, adding:

"I could always tell when he'd come into work drunk from the night before and I'd cover up for him so no one else guessed.

It was hysterically funny but I did worry that he was going to get into trouble. When you're filming a scene the producer can watch you on a monitor in his or her office, but if Charlie was still a bit drunk we'd persuade the vision mixer to fade the producer's screen to black so they wouldn't be able to see what was going on.

And Charlie was so funny, he'd be happily drunk rather than falling down drunk.

One day the McDonalds were having a massive row and Jim had to walk around the dining table and behind where I was sitting.

Noises

But as he did it he got his shoe caught in my handbag. He was saying: "Steve, I've told you I won't put up with it. And I won't put up with it because. . . I've just put my foot in your *******ing mother's handbag!"

Another morning I was in my dressing room getting ready to film when I heard the most awful noises coming from the dressing room next door, which Charlie shared with Geoffrey Hinsliff, who played cab driver Don Brennan.

I was putting on one of Liz's miniskirts but all I could hear was Charlie stomping around next door, coughing, jumping up and down and shouting: "What stupid idea is this?"

Then there was this banging on my door and Charlie saying: "Can I come in?" He stood in the doorway wearing a pair of trousers that were pulled tight round his legs and just reached down to his calves. "I know the McDonalds are skint but this is *******ing ridiculous!" he said.

"Charlie," I replied. "They're not Jim's clothes. They're Don Brennan's!" Charlie had got so p***ed the night before that he'd put the wrong costume on.

One outrageous night we had was when we went over to Liverpool for a Brookside leaving party. Again, every time Charlie had a Bushmills whiskey I had a vodka and bitter lemon.

I've only been that drunk with Charlie about four times but this was the worst. In the car on the way home, Charlie was smoking and I was chattering away when suddenly I collapsed on to his knee.

A couple of minutes later the driver was saying: "Charlie! Is Beverley all right back there? I can smell burning!"

I'd fallen asleep on Charlie's cigarette and caught light to my hair. Charlie was frantically banging my head with his hands while I was still totally out of it!

Next morning I was first on set, in the corner shop buying toilet rolls. I felt like death. I was halfway through the take and I went to run my hands through my hair when a great big clump just fell out in my fingers. I thought: "Oh my God, I've drunk so much vodka my hair's falling out!"

It was only later that Charlie told me what had happened. We had such a laugh together, And there never ever was anything romantic between us. We were just great mates then and still are to this day."

The bond Bev's shared with co-stars for over two decades means they have been there supporting her through her many ups and downs. And she relishes the memory of hilarious advice from Bet Lynch legend Julie Goodyear as she faced her hysterectomy. Bev says:

"I'd had loads of people saying: "Oh, you poor thing." That makes you feel worse than ever.

Giggling

But Julie sat down in my dressing room and said: "Listen, I've had a hysterectomy and you're going to be fine, but let me tell you this, afterwards you're going to shag like a snow leopard!"

We both fell about giggling. Then she told me that when she'd discovered she needed the operation her mum had rung her auntie and said:

"Bad news. Our Julie's been to the gynaecologist and she has to have a complete ex-directory!"

(c) Beverley Callard 2010. Extracts taken from Unbroken by Beverley Callard published by Hodder & Stoughton at £16.99. To buy it for £13.99 (with free P&P) call 0845 271 2137 or visit notwbookshop.co.uk

Return of the Rovers?

AS Corrie clocks up half a century, Rovers matriarch Bev has hopes of a return for the entire McDonald clan - Liz, Jim, Steve and Andy - last seen together at Steve and Becky's wedding last year.

She says: "The four of us loved it. We've told the writers and producers we'd really like to be reunited. Maybe one day it'll happen.

"As long as the storylines are there for Liz, it will always be too tempting to stay in the show. We get our scripts on a Tuesday and when mine comes it always feels like receiving a present as I don't know what's inside. Then I open it and there'll be a great storyline and I feel all giddy and excited.

"I love working with my friends who have been in the show for years, but I also love being with Kate Kelly who plays Becky and Kym Marsh, who plays Michelle. We have a real giggle together.

"I'm massively loyal to Coronation Street. It's a national institution and I hope it's around for another 50 years."

Playing Liz is a tight fit

BEVERLEY, 53, candidly reveals that fitting into Liz McDonald's notorious miniskirts and plunging necklines has been one of her toughest tasks since returning to Coronation Street last year following her breakdown.

She says: "Since I've been ill I've put on a bit of weight because of my medication and not being able to exercise.

"That's just made wearing Liz's clothes even harder as they're unforgiving to say the least. My tummy is still quite bloated from the drugs, so sometimes I look at myself in Liz's tiny size eight skirts and think I look like an egg on legs!

"The electric shock treatment, or ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) can be tough on your skin too.

"Some days I see bunny rabbit crinkles at the side of my mouth, a turkey neck, hands like chicken feet, and I think, 'I've turned into a bloody pet shop!' "