Debbie McGrath is a fictional character in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

soap opera ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Bro ...

'', played by teenager

Gillian Kearney Gillian Louise Kearney

, from 1986 to 1989. The character was Kearney's first television role, and featured in a plot line which launched both actress and character into the national consciousness."Tv's top five YOOFS". ''The Daily Telegraph'' (London); 20 Jan 2007; p. 013"The 800; A birthday celebration of 800 people who put Liverpool on the map". ''Liverpool Echo'' (Liverpool); 28 Aug 2007; Catherine Jones, David Prentice; p. 1 Debbie McGrath was introduced into the soap as Damon Grant's ( Simon O'Brien) girlfriend. She was both younger than Damon and under the

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...

, two facts which caused friction between the parents of both characters, a plot-line which saw one critic refer to it as like "

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

in trackies". When their parents objected to them dating, the couple decided to elope in a story shown in the first UK 'soap bubble', '' Damon and Debbie''. According to Annie Leask of ''

The Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...

'', the spin-off was a result of the characters' popularity with the viewing public. The events of the spin-off show saw Damon murdered, and Debbie returning briefly to the show, where it was revealed she was carrying Grant's baby. After the birth of her son, Simon, she made a brief return to the Close to introduce her child to his grandmother,

Sheila Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name ''Caelia'', the feminine form of the Roman clan name ''Caelius' ...

(

Sue Johnston Sue Johnston (born Susan Wright; 7 December 1943) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy '' The Royle Family'' (1998–2012), G ...

), before departing for university. Francesca Babb from ''

All About Soap ''All About Soap'' was a fortnightly UK magazine founded in October 1999. It was released on Tuesdays. Storylines of the shows it covered were from soap operas shown in the United Kingdom and from Australia, including ''EastEnders'', ''Coronat ...

'' stated that Damon and Debbie were "star-crossed young lovers" whose storyline took a "Romeo & Juliet style twist" as they ran away to York.

References

McGrath, Debbie McGrath, Debbie British female characters in soap operas English female characters in television {{soap-char-stub