THREE decades have passed since Byker Grove first graced our screens – and one of the actors looks completely unrecognisable since appearing.
The CBBC drama launched 32 years ago and it entertained British kids for 17 years – until the Geordie youth club shut its doors in 2006.
The beloved show centred on a youth club in the Byker area of Newcastle and fans were kept entertained with a whopping 344 episodes.
It also spawned the career of many a child actor along the way – not least superstar presenters Ant and Dec.
But while the best pals went from Rumble to jungle – picking up millions on the way – their co-stars were facing mixed fortunes in the post-Byker decade.
In particular, Donna Air, who portrayed Charlie Carlton all those years ago as a fresh-faced ten-year-old.
After the show stopped in 2006, she went on to sing in the pop duo Crush, having hits in the US and Japan, before becoming a presenter for MTV.
Now 41, she is better known for her high-profile relationships with wealthy men.
She split from multi-millionaire zoo and casino owner Damian Aspinall in 2008 after a long-term romance that produced daughter Freya, now 17.
She has since dated several wealthy including John Dorrance IV, the London-based American heir to the Campbell’s soup fortune and Sam Goldstone, a Cheshire-born millionaire.
In February 2013, she embarked on a four-year romance with Kate Middleton’s businessman brother James Middleton and went on to date property developer Ben Carrington.
She competed in the 2018 series of Dancing On Ice and recently starred in BBC One drama, The Split.
