'Liz & Dick': Ex-EastEnders Junkie Tanya Franks Stars As Richard Burton's First Wife Sybil

Ex-EastEnders Junkie Stars In Liz Taylor Film

She was last seen as scruffy crack addict Rainie Cross in BBC One soap EastEnders, but Tanya Franks left Albert Square for the bright lights of Hollywood and it looks like it was worth it...

Franks, who's also starred in Family Affairs and The Bill, has been cast as Richard Burton's jilted wife, Sybil, in the made-for-television film Liz & Dick.

Richard Burton and his wife Sybil

During her time on EastEnders, Franks was involved in a criticised crack cocaine storyline in 2010, which saw her addicted to the drug with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).

As Sybil in this Hollywood film, which tells the love story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and stars Lindsay Lohan as Liz and True Blood’s Grant Bowler as Dick, Franks' character will be a whole lot more demure.

Sybil married Burton in 1949 until their divorce in 1963 and had two daughters by him, before his famous affair with Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra led him to leave her and marry the actress (twice).

Lohan's spokesman, Steve Honig, recently commented on how much Lohan looks like Liz in the film.

"It was like being on set with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It was really a moment."

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