Zöe Lucker
Zöe Elizabeth Lucker (born 11 April 1974) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Tanya Turner in the ITV drama series, Footballers' Wives; Vanessa Gold in the long-running BBC One soap opera, EastEnders; Carol Barry in the BBC One school-based drama series, Waterloo Road; and Reenie McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks.
Zöe Lucker

ChryedCrazy · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1974 · Huddersfield.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- actress
- Education
- Huddersfield New College · Salendine Nook High School · Arden School of Theatre
- Languages
- English
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q133483 · wikipedia · Zöe Lucker
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Education
Education
Lucker was educated at Huddersfield New College. She studied acting at Oscars Academy of Performing Arts in Huddersfield, and later at the Manchester Arden School of Theatre.
Documentary record
Zöe Lucker appears in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek as an actress (born 11 April 1974). Zöe Lucker was born on 11 April 1974.
Career
Career
In 2002, Lucker began portraying the role of Tanya Turner on ITV drama series, Footballers' Wives. In 2004, she was nominated and won a TV Quick and TV Choice Award for Best Actress for her role of Tanya Turner; she was also nominated for a National Television Award in the category of Most Popular Actress for her work on Footballers' Wives. In 2005, Lucker toured New Zealand extensively in the play Then Comes Love as the female lead Jane opposite Shane Cortese and played the lead role in Bombshell for ITV1, although the series was ultimately only broadcast in New Zealand. She also appeared in BBC drama series, HolbyBlue, playing the role of Kate Keenan. In 2009, Lucker appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? alongside John Suchet, winning £150,000 for the Caron Keating Foundation In September 2009, Lucker was announced as a contestant for series 7 of Strictly Come Dancing. Her former Footballers Wives co-star, Laila Rouass also participated in the series. She was partnered up with professional ballroom dancer James Jordan. Despite earning high scores and having the third highest average, the couple were eliminated on 31 October, after being in a dance-off against Ali Bastian and her partner Brian Fortuna. In November that year, it was confirmed that she would take part in the Strictly Come Dancing 2010 live tour at arenas across the UK. In March 2010, Lucker joined the cast of BBC soap opera, EastEnders, to portray the role Vanessa Gold. She left in October 2011. In June 2012, Lucker joined the cast of Waterloo Road, to play Carol Barry, the matriarch of the crime family from Liverpool. In February 2015, Lucker joined the cast of Hollyoaks, to play Reenie McQueen. Reenie has been billed as "good-time party girl without an 'off' switch and can be exhausting company although deep down she is the most vulnerable of Nana's children" and hasn't set the best example to her children and has let them down in the past. She made her first appearance on 16 April 2015. It was later announced in December 2015 that Lucker would be leaving the role at the conclusion of the child sexual abuse storyline, with Reenie making her final appearance on 30 June 2016. In January 2024, eight years after her last acting role, Lucker stated to Attitude that she was on an indefinite hiatus from acting.
Personal life
Personal life
Lucker married Richard Forshaw in 2001 but they divorced later in the same year. Lucker is engaged to her partner, film editor James Herbert, with whom she had a daughter in September 2008.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q133483: Zöe Lucker
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Zöe Lucker”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- VIAF cluster 288965006 for Zöe Lucker, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
Awards
Nominated for Most Popular Actress, 2004 – National Television Awards Most Popular Actress, 2004 TV Quick Awards
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Zöe Lucker, revision 1372472847 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.TANYA'S TRANSFER; Footballers' Wives favourite bitch Zoe Lucker switches sides when she's jailed in the soccer soap and ends up behind bars in Bad Girls. - Free Online Library.
- 2.England & Wales births 1837-2006
- 3.Hello!. Zoe Lucker (profile).
- 4.Huddersfield's Zoe Lucker set for EastEnders role. Huddersfield Examiner. 22 March 2010.
- 5.Zoe in TV award dream. Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 19 July 2004.
- 6.Herrick, Linda. Then Comes Love at Founders Theatre. NZ Herald. 5 September 2005.
- 7.Army drama lacks true trash power. NZ Herald. 3 May 2006.
- 8.BBC. Holby Blue: Characters & Actors :Station Reception Officer Kate Keenan.
- 9.Yorkshire & Humber Improvement Partnership. John Suchet on Celebrity 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?'.
- 10.Chivers, Tom. Strictly Come Dancing 2009: the contestants. The Telegraph. 18 September 2009.
- 11.Douglas, Joanne. Lindley actress Zoe Lucker joins Strictly Come Dancing live tour. Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 10 November 2009.
- 12.Kilkelly, Daniel. Zöe Lucker: 'More to come from Vanessa'. Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. 12 May 2011.
- 13.Lindley's Zoe Lucker is back on TV as hell-raising mum in Waterloo Road. Examiner Live.
- 14.Kilkelly, Daniel. Hollyoaks casts Zöe Lucker as newcomer Reenie McQueen. Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. 6 February 2015.
- 15.Hollyoaks spoilers: First look at Reenie McQueen's final scenes. Metro.
- 16.Footballers' Wives' Zöe Lucker on her most iconic Tanya Turner looks and 'Bubbly's in the fridge' meme fame. Attitude.
- 17.Zoe Lucker: I don't want my child to see my TV sex scenes. Daily Mirror.
- 18.BBC. Stars battle it out for TV awards. 26 October 2004.
- 19.It's Zoe vs Nell. Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 17 September 2004.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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