EastEnders' Barry star finally lands new TV role two decades later

Daily Mirror

5 hours ago

Shaun Williamson was once best known as Barry Evans in EastEnders. Twenty years after his exit from the BBC One soap, he's tackling a different challenge - and it may surprise you.
He was once known as Janine Butcher's unlucky husband Barry Evans in EastEnders but now, Shaun Williamson tackles a new challenge on the box as he joins the Celebrity Puzzling line-up.
Jeremy Vine, who fronts the eight-part Channel 5 series, was surprised by how well Shaun Williamson handled the new game. 'I knew Shaun Williamson would be nervous about it,' he says.
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'It's not his usual territory. But I could see he knew stuff and was having a good time.' He was particularly interested in watching goalie David James take on the challenge. 'Sportspeople's brains just work differently. It was enjoyable to watch.'
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For a decade, Shaun was known for his EastEnders character, the hapless Barry Evans. In the BBC One drama, the car dealer appeared to have found long-lasting love in the form of Janine Butcher. Little did he know she only had eyes for his fortune as she pushed him off a cliff during an argument, leaving him to die shortly after.
Since his 2004 exit from the London-based drama, Shaun has starred in a multitude of dramas from The Bill to Casualty and Holby City - but he's also shown off his quizzing skills in Al Murray 's Great British Pub Quiz and Beat The Chasers: Celebrity Special.
In this brand new show, Jeremy plays quizmaster and referee as team captains Carol Vorderman and Sally Lindsay take on mind-bending mental challenges alongside a rotating cast of celebrity guests.
Each episode sees a fresh pair of famous faces join the fray - Gareth Malone and Ore Oduba start us off, with Scarlett Moffatt, Stephen Bailey, Melvin Odoom, Miles Jupp, Dom Joly and more queuing up to flex their grey matter.
Jeremy says he often found himself 'constantly' itching to join in. 'I didn't always have the answers,' he says, 'But I quickly realised that, as the quiz master, you feel locked out. You can't shout the answer out. That's the price you pay for watching these competitors do battle.'
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Celebrity Puzzling's six-round structure keeps things lively, but one segment in particular gave Carol a headache: Cinema Cypher, where film titles are hidden behind a string of symbols.
'I found it hard because I had to go backwards,' she says, 'I'm absolutely rubbish with movie titles. I know The Godfather series, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars but I couldn't tell you what their names are, though I've probably seen all of those multiple times.'
She came unstuck when trying to work out School of Rock. 'I thought of all the movies I knew and tried to make them fit,' she admits, 'I forced it rather than trying to work it out. I didn't know the movie title.' But she revelled in the challenge. 'That's the worst thing I did but I really enjoyed trying to work it out,' she says.
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For Carol, however, the biggest novelty wasn't the puzzles - it was being a captain. 'I can't remember ever being a team captain before and I really enjoyed it,' she says.
'This was interesting because I was with Scarlett Morfatt on one show and then Paul Sinna another show. In terms of general knowledge, that's vast - Paul is one of the top quizzers in the country!'
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But what makes the show shine is its clever tailoring: questions are curated for the guests' strengths. 'The questions were totally geared to those celebs,' says Carol, 'I didn't know pop bands but Scarlett did. It was brilliantly done.'
Her long-standing friendship with Sally Lindsay added an extra layer of warmth to filming. 'Sally is just a joy,' she says, 'She's actually one of my best friends so it was a joy to be with her even though the way our brains work is different. We're both Northern, feisty women and we like a laugh. So I loved being in that studio.'
Carol's lifelong love of puzzles runs deep. 'I've always loved puzzles. When I was a child, I used to buy old maths books,' she remembers, 'They were my puzzles. I would sit at home with my pencil and go against the clock. Chess is one of the big ones.'
That passion led her to hosting the 1993 world chess match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short. It was the Kremlin's first ever commercial event - a speed chess championship. These days, she's a devoted Sudoku fan, happily losing herself in grids during long train rides back to Bristol from filming.