Claire King and Debra Stephenson used to get drunk every Friday while filming 'Bad Girls'.

Claire King and Debra Stephenson (c) Twitter

Claire King and Debra Stephenson (c) Twitter

The two actresses starred in the prison drama as Governor Karen Betts and evil Shell Dockley respectively and they have admitted they used to knock back bottle of booze at the end of every week because the storylines and set were quite "depressing" at times.

Speaking on 'Loose Women' on Wednesday (30.08.17), Claire, 54, said to her former co-star: "Do you remember Fizzy Fridays? We used to go across to Tesco and get loads of picnic food and booze - hence the Fizzy Friday - and we had it at lunchtime when we still had filming in the afternoon. It was such good fun, it really was. You'd think it would be a nightmare with 30,40 women all trapped in the same area for eight months of the year, but actually we did make it fun, because it was such a depressing place to work in."

Debra, 45, agreed with Claire and revealed she never let her children watch the show because she didn't want them to see the explicit content.

'Bad Girls' ran from 1999 until it was pulled off air in 2006 because of a decline in viewers.

Despite the axe, the series received critical acclaim and even spawned a musical adaptation of the first series being titled 'Bad Girls: The Musical'.

Both Claire and Debra have had a successful careers following the ending of 'Bad Girls' and they have both appeared on the ITV soap 'Coronation Street' - albeit at different times.

However, Debra - who played Frankie Baldwin in the soap from 2004 to 2006 - admitted she didn't think she could return because the filming schedule was tough to cope with.

She said: "I don't think I can see myself going back. It's relentless... six days a week."


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