Catherine Tyldesley admits she won't speak to kids for ‘three days' when in ‘work mode' on set

Scottish Sun

16-06-2025

The mum-of-two has also revealed what she misses most about her kids when working away
MUM CONFESSION Catherine Tyldesley admits she won't speak to kids for 'three days' when in 'work mode' on set
CATHERINE Tyldesley has admitted she can go "two or three days" without speaking to her kids when she is away filming.
The Good Ship Murder star, 41, shares her son Alfie, 10, and three-year-old daughter Iris with her husband Tom Pitfield and made the confession during a joint podcast.
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Catherine Tyldesley can go up to three days without speaking to her kids when working
Credit: Splash
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The actress is mum to son Alfie and daughter Iris
Credit: Instagram
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Catherine stars opposite Shayne Ward in The Good Ship Murder
Credit: PA
Catherine said her career can be very "fast-paced" at times and take her abroad for long periods - such as when filming The Good Ship Murder.
The Channel 5 drama is shot on board a cruise ship in Malta and, while she is there, Tom is back in the UK with their children.
Catherine, who found fame in Coronation Street, said on the Behind The Brood podcast: "When I'm on set, being in Malta as much as I have been, a year-and-a-half in total if you join it all up. I'm OK, because it's very fast paced.
"A little bit like it was on Corrie. My head is firmly in work mode. I'm somebody else, I'm not me.
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"But it's when I get back to that hotel in the evening and it's silent.. The bedtime routine, bath time, not being able sit on the bed and read Iris a book or chat to Alfie about how his day was.
"I know there's Zoom, which is wonderful, but it's not the same."
Tom said to his wife: "Some days we'll go two or three days without Zooming and that might seem mental to some people.
"The reality is, you'll sometimes want to ring Iris and she's too busy playing with her dollies."
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Catherine added: "We feel like we know when the time is right and I'm often on a different time zone to you.
"When I'm filming on the cruise ship, that's a nightmare because the WiFi is all over the place and we skip from tome zone, to time zone.
The Good Ship Murder Channel 5 Trailer
"It is difficult and I always say to the other actors on set.. they're like, 'You alright, Cath? Are you missing your kids?' And I'm like, 'I just want to sniff them'.
"I just have this... you know when your arms go a bit funny because you just want to squeeze them and sniff their sweaty little heads."
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Tom joked: "It's funny, as I just want to launch them out of the window some days!"
Catherine played Eva Price in Coronation Street from 2011 to 2018.
The star gave birth to Alfie in 2015 and she and Tom married the following year. They welcomed Iris in April 2022.
Tom is a photographer and co-founder of Brood magazine.
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Shortly after Iris was born, Catherine landed her role as First Office Kate Woods in The Good Ship Murder.
This meant she had to go abroad when their daughter was only a few months old, which left Tom 'holding the baby'.
Speaking to Brood at the time, he said: "To be honest, with this job and how it just all happened so quickly, we didn't really have time to think.
"As soon as Cath walked out of the door to go the airport, I had that realisation that I've got to cook the tea now, whilst holding the baby and looking after a seven-year-old, and that's not going to change for the next three months.
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"But you know what, we've done it before – albeit it was just me and Alfie then, so we've got an extra one this time, but we'll do it!"
He added: "We knew this was going to be our life whether we had one or two kids, or no kids, so we knew the deal when we first got together and we always said we would do everything as a team, so this is just the next adventure, and we'll complete it and move on.
"And we've got to just stay positive like that, as Cath's following her dreams and we support her, just like she supports me, so it's mutual respect.'
The Good Ship Murder, which also stars Shayne Ward, is set to return for a third series in 2026.
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Catherine landed the role of First Officer Kate Woods after giving birth to her second child
Credit: @auntiecath17/instagram
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Tom was left looking after Alfie, then seven, and their baby Iris for several months
Credit: Instagram