Many people wanted to see footballer's wife Tanya put in prison, Now they've got their wish as the superbitch gets banged up in Bad Girls.

Putting favourite TV characters behind bars is nothing new. Soaps do it all the time, whether it's Deirdre banged up for fraud or Arthur Fowler imprisoned for "borrowing" charity donations.

It was only a matter of time before Footballers' Wives superbitch Tanya Turner/Laslett was locked up. People have been saying she deserved it for a long time. Not so much because of her drug-taking or sexual antics, more because they're envious of her expensive lifestyle.

Having been found guilty, she's been sentenced to three days in prison in another ITV1 series.

It was a brainwave to send her to HMP Larkhall prison to serve five years for possession of drugs. So next week Tanya, played by Zoe Lucker, transfers from Footballers' Wives to another ITV1 series Bad Girls, made by the same company Shed Productions.

This is the first time such a major straight swap from one series to another has been engineered on ITV. Characters sometimes get their own spin-off series.

A few nip between series, but it's relatively rare. Patients admitted in Casualty can turn up in a hospital bed in sister BBC1 show Holby City. The long arm of the Aidenfield law in Heartbeat sometimes stretches so that familiar police characters pop up in Whitby-set hospital series The Royal. In the US, when Buffy The Vampire Slayer ended, her bloodsucking beau Spike resurfaced in spin-off series Angel.

The man who sent down Tanya is Brian Park. As executive producer of both Bad Girls and Footballers' Wives he could play judge and jury to send this bad girl to Larkhall.

The producers decided that as real life had seen Jeffrey Archer and Lord Brockett as celebrity inmates, then it was high time Bad Girls had a VIP on G Wing.

"Zoe didn't need a terrific amount of persuading, just some reassurance that she could bring some designer clothes and make-up in with her," jokes producer Cameron Roach.

The rumour was that Tanya would be jailed for helping husband Jason fall from a high building at the end of the second season. Then again, she could have gone on trial for getting rid of husband Frank through a lethal combination of Viagra and sex. In fact, her sentence was handed down after being framed for possession of class A drugs by Amber Gates, whose footballer husband has been playing away with Tanya.

She arrives in the prison van with make-up pouring down her face. "She has her designer luggage and she's furious about being set up by Amber. But she's a born survivor," according to the people at Shed.

No sooner has Tanya, who has more designer labels on her than in a Harvey Nicks store, been put in a cell than she's screaming, "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!".

It's going to be as much fun as watching Wife Swap seeing how Tanya copes as she exchanges her extravagant lifestyle for the deprivations of prison life.

Champagne and high heels aren't usually part of it. And if someone smuggles in a nailfile in a cake, she'd use it to manicure her talons rather than saw through the bars.

Before, she filled her days by having her hair and nails done, massages, guzzling champagne and snorting cocaine. Sewing mailbags doesn't seem Tanya's style.

Matters aren't helped as her arrival coincides with an outbreak of food poisoning among prisoners at Larkhall - and Tanya becomes the prime suspect.

Yorkshire-born Lucker was fascinated to see how the writers would treat Tanya as a prisoner. "It really interested me how they would write her story once she was behind bars," she says.

"Not to mention how she would cope without the usual trappings of fame and luxury around her. But Tanya is a survivor and used to getting what she wants. So I can't see that changing just because she's in prison."

She admits she was apprehensive joining Bad Girls with its well-established cast that includes Stephanie Beacham, Amanda Barrie and Helen Fraser as the warder affectionately known as Bodybag.

"I must admit I was nervous. It was like starting at a new school. But all the girls are lovely and I soon felt very at home," says Lucker.

"Going to jail is the worst thing to happen to Tanya. She's been in so many scrapes in the past and she's always got away with it, so ending up in prison probably never even crossed her mind."

By an odd coincidence, the actress originally auditioned for a role in Bad Girls but was turned down, before winning her role in Footballers' Wives.

A fourth series of Footballers' Wives is scheduled for screening next year. We'll have to wait and see whether Tanya gets out in time to return. Meanwhile Lucker will star in a new ITV1 drama, Bombshell, playing a young captain who has an affair with a major.

* Bad Girls is showing on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Published: 15/05/2004