Cast your mind back to 2003: Black Eyed Peas are number one with 'Where Is The Love?, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has just been published and the TV adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's Girls in Love hits screens for the first time. But where are the cast now? What are their favourite memories of the show? And... could we ever see a third series, with the characters of Ellie, Magda and Nadine all grown up (much like they are in the newly released Jacqueline Wilson book, Think Again)?
Cosmopolitan UK reunited Olivia Hallinan (who played Ellie), Zaraah Abrahams (who starred as Magda) and Amy Kwolek (the one and only Nadine) – almost 20 years after the last episode aired – and sat down for a good old chat. Here's what they had to say about their time on the show...
Watch the Girls in Love cast reunite after 20 years!
When was Girls in Love on?
It kinda feels scary to say now, but the Girls in Love TV series (based on the Jacqueline Wilson book of the same name) first aired in 2003 and ran for two seasons, totalling 26 episodes. The show was filmed in Manchester and aired on CITV, the kids programme block that aired on ITV after school. It spawned new book covers and plenty of merch, including a toiletries line.
Where are the cast of Girls in Love now?
Prior to being reunited by Cosmopolitan UK, Amy hadn't seen Zaraah since the Girls in Love wrap party, but Olivia and Zaraah had loosely kept in touch throughout the years (occasionally bumping into one another at auditions).
"I saw [Amy] a little bit after [the show] and then life just gets in the way," Olivia says when reflecting back. "And before you know it the years have just flown by!"
When reconvening in the Hearst studio, all three actors agreed that it felt as though no time at all had passed. "We haven't actually all been together [in so long], 20 years ago this [hanging out] was so normal for us," Olivia reflects. "I feel like we could just burst into a scene right now. Amy and Zaraah look exactly the same... but we can't look exactly the same, as we're grown-ups now!"
"It feels weirdly the same," Zaraah nods. "I don't think I've ever spent that amount of time with another group of people [as I did with my Girls in Love co-stars]. It was very intense."
The trio all lived together throughout filming in Manchester, meaning they were super close both on- and off-screen, and had plenty of fun nights out together when they weren't busy learning lines!
Olivia Hallinan
Before taking on the role of Ellie Allard in Girls in Love, Olivia had appeared in other notable shows such as The Bill and Holby City – but Girls in Love was her first recurring TV role. Shortly after the show came to an end, she headed off to university in Manchester and then took up the role of Kim in Sugar Rush (another absolutely *iconique* 00s show).
Right now, she's loving being in her mum era – but is still open to the right part should it present itself. "After Sugar Rush, I spent quite a few years in period drama land running around in a corset, [did] a bit of stage, a bit of this and a bit of that, and in more recent years I've been focussing more on being a mummy – I have a little 3-year-old, she's been keeping me busy," Olivia updates. "I'm still acting, just waiting for the next role... so, I'm just going to say it, I think the grown-up Ellie would be perfect!"
Zaraah Abrahams
Once she'd waved goodbye to her time as Magda, Zaraah went on to appear in Waterloo Road as Michaela White (who she describes as her "spirit animal") and spent time on stage, before heading off to America to "also enter corset land" in The Knick, a period drama about the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York. Returning back to the UK, Zaraah then landed a part in Coronation Street and now stars as Chelsea Fox in Eastenders. "I want to be in Eastenders until I die," she laughs.
In her personal life, Zaraah adds that after Girls in Love, she "got married and had a baby, who is now 8 – so I've been busy! I appreciate that I was able to do so much so early in my career, I really appreciate where I am now."
Amy Kwolek
After the show came to a close, Amy also went off to university and spent some time working at Pinewood Studios with the costume designer of Girls in Love, she then continued acting up until she was in her mid-twenties. Eventually though, Amy explains, she was "fed up with treading water" and decided to pursue a more corporate career – while keeping up her creative passions (such as wildlife photography) on the side. "I started working office jobs and I work for a law firm in the city now which is very different," Amy shares. "I'm a corporate girlie now!"
She adds that because Girls in Love is still easily Googleable, she's even been asked about her past life on the show following job interviews. "Unfortunately I'm still very Googleable, so I get a lot of 'err, nice to have met you at the interview Amy, we just Googled you and... what's all this about?'." Obsessed.
How involved was Jacqueline Wilson with the TV show?
"It felt like she was very involved but that she also took a step back," Zaraah explains. "She got a team in there that she trusted – us, cast, crew, producers. I think she was very close with them [the producers]. I remember the screening, she was there, and she was so happy."
Olivia also recalls the author approaching her after seeing the first episode and telling her how pleased she was with it all. "I went 'Oh god, really!?' because you want to impress her! She's amazing, I'd love to see her now."
Amy is still also a big fan, saying that when she saw Jacqueline Wilson advertising the new Girls book on TikTok earlier this year, she instantly put a pre-order in!
Where do they imagine their characters now?
Olivia's prediction for Ellie? "I'm actually cheating a bit as I've read the summary of the new book," she laughs. "Before reading that though, I hoped that Ellie was successful with her art because that was her dream, I hoped that she'd maybe met a nice man as she's such a romantic. She really felt her feelings, really deeply, she deserved a good man. Maybe she could be like the new Jacqueline Wilson, turning her journals into children's books?"
As for where Zaraah sees Madga now, the actor says, "I imagine that she would be a very confident woman, I think she would have made a lot of mistakes along the way but I think that she was always emotionally mature, so I think she would've learnt from them."
She adds, "I think Magda's probably chasing a very handsome, rich man – she was always into boys! And I think she'd probably be doing quite well career-wise. Maybe her achilles heel would be her relationship status."
Meanwhile, Amy's hopes for Nadine are that the character goes against what was typically expected of her. "It'd be really funny to see her in a really opposite situation, maybe with like eight children and a hectic family life?" she jokes. "She was very sassy, independent and alternative, so I'd love to see her wedged into this situation. But I would imagine really she's still being her alternative self."
Reflecting back, Olivia says that she recently went to a school reunion of her own and felt as though nobody had really changed – and that she could see the Girls in Love cast being similar in that sense. "They'd still feel really young at heart, they'd still be being silly – you never really grow up."
They could just be "adulting on the side", adds Zaraah. "We'll have a side of adulting, like a side of olives."
Will we ever see a series 3 of Girls in Love?
Well... never say never! Certainly not if Olivia and Amy have anything to do with it. "If this new book gets turned into a TV series, you cannot recast it, Mr TV commissioner!" Olivia enthuses. "I think yes, I would definitely play Ellie again. I mean, I'd be mad not to?"
Amy is also keen, adding, "I'd take a sabbatical from work and do some acting!"
"I think just having lived now, 20 years since, to add that earth and wealth of experience and knowledge, whether it’s of the industry or just life, would make the characters so, so fruitful," says Zaraah – although for her, soap life comes first and Eastenders is king.
So, watch this space Girls in Love fans...? 👀
