Malandra Burrows

Kathy is remembered for being one of the most-often married characters in the soap and had a reputation for having "the kiss of death" on her men. First husband Jackie Merrick accidentally shot himself in 1989; her second marriage to Chris Tate, who uses a wheelchair, ended in 1995 when he admitted to an affair; in 1996 Kathy’s third husband Dave Glover died saving a baby he thought to be his own from a house fire as he was about to elope with his mistress Kim Tate. Poor Kathy was even dumped at the altar by her fourth fiancé Biff in 1999. During her 16-year stint, Kathy was kidnapped by a diamond-thieving lord, knocked down by a horse-stealing conman, targeted by a double wife murderer who tried to drive her over a cliff, trapped in the wreckage of a bus hit by a lorry, and imprisoned for protesting against the local haulage company. Reportedly one of the soap's highest-paid stars of the time on a reputed £80,000pa, she paid the price of celebrity when a fanatical mental patient escaped from custody threatening to kill her; she had police protection for two months. She appeared in soap opera for seventeen years, turning down many parts including one written for her in Willy Russell's film version of Shirley Valentine, but was axed from the soap as part of ITV's revamp of the programme in the rush for ratings. Read Less