Inside The Hardacres star Julie Graham's life off-screen including health battle and husband's death

Actress Julie Graham is set to star in the new Channel 5 series The Hardacres, which begins airing tonight, but away from the screen, the star has had her fair share of struggles

Julie Graham is set to grace our TV screens once again in the new period drama The Hardacres, premiering on Channel 5 this evening (Monday, 7 October).

The Hardacres tells a story of a working-class family's journey from rags to riches in 1890s Yorkshire. The narrative, based on two novels by CL Skelton, has been transformed into a six-part series for Channel 5 by the same team behind All Creatures Great and Small.

The series features Julie as Ma Hardacre, Claire Cooper as Mary Hardacre, and Liam McMahon as Sam Hardacre. The Hardacres are a working-class family who begin their journey at a grimy fish dock on Yorkshire's blustery coast and eventually find themselves residing in a sprawling country estate, with the saga spanning the first half of the 20th Century.

Many viewers will recognise Julie, 59, from her numerous TV roles, most notably Benidorm, where she played Sheron Dawson, and Shetland, where she starred as Rhona Kelly.

A familiar face on our TV screens, Julie has built an impressive career over the years. Outside of acting, Julie has been candid about personal struggles, previously sharing how her menopause symptoms affected her life in an effort to raise awareness, reports the Express.

The actress openly discussed what she referred to as a 'couple of really bad years' that she endured, particularly marked by a major personal tragedy when her former husband, actor Joseph A. Bennett, tragically ended his life in April 2015.

She confided in HELLO! magazine, saying: "I started having symptoms when I was 48, after a couple of really bad years. My best friend had died suddenly, my ex-husband died, I'd moved house, my cousin died and my camper van set on fire."

Disclosing the impact of these events intertwined with the onset of her menopause, Julie elaborated: "I was anxious, angry, I'd lost confidence and I couldn't sleep. I was also in Benidorm at the time, always in a bloody swimsuit, and was piling on weight for no reason. I thought it was grieving, but I was going through the perimenopause."

Her union with Joseph lasted from 2002 until his untimely passing in 2015, and together they share two daughters: Edie May, who arrived in 2004, and Cyd Betty, who followed in 2006.

Having since found love again, Julie has remarried; her current husband is Belgian skydiver Davy Croket whom she wed in October 2019, having started their relationship in 2016. Julie previously told The Sun about her unexpected journey into this relationship: "He's just lovely, gorgeous and he makes me happy. Meeting somebody was the last thing I wanted to do. I was adamant that I wanted to spend some time on my own."