Overview

• Jimmy McGovern’s Unforgivable premiered on BBC iPlayer in July 2025 with Friel as the lead, marking her return to high-profile British drama.
• Channel 4 has confirmed a special Brookside–Hollyoaks crossover that has renewed interest in Friel’s breakout Beth Jordache role, though her involvement remains unconfirmed.
• Coverage recalls her 1995 pre-watershed lesbian kiss on Brookside and her contractual insistence that Beth’s sexuality not be linked to past abuse.
• Friel’s international acclaim includes a Golden Globe nomination for Pushing Daisies and an International Emmy Award win in 2017 for Marcella.
• Profiles also revisit her 2001 burst ovarian cyst and endometriosis diagnosis, her 2005 motherhood and the relationship breakdown she described during the 2020 COVID lockdown.