As Cathy Tyson joins Blue Lights as Dana Morgan, here's her career and life in profile - including 'guilt' over divorce from soap star
Helen Fear | 11:31am Mon 29 Sep | Updated 11:46am Mon 29 SepCathy Tyson has joined the cast of Blue Lights series 3, and her “chilling” character has a “sociopathic aspect to her personality” – here’s her career and life in profile.
The veteran actress, who has been on our screens for four decades, plays Dana Morgan in the latest series. And it’s certainly not the first time Cathy has played a “challenging” character. After all, her very first film role – opposite Bob Hoskins, no less – was playing a sex worker.
Now, it’s time for Cathy to play something a lot different – the owner of a private members club in Belfast. She’s a “new powerful figure on the criminal side”.
Here’s everything you need to know about Cathy Tyson, her new role in Blue Lights, her career in TV and film, and her high-profile divorce to her soap star husband.
Who is Dana Morgan in Blue Lights series 3?
Dana Morgan runs a private members club in Belfast – but we soon discover she’s so much more than that. She has a “sociopathic aspect to her personality” and the difference between immoral and amoral is a fine line.
Talking about her Blue Lights character, Cathy Tyson said: “One of the hardest, most chilling things is that Dana Morgan is like everybody else. There is a vulnerability to her. Tough characters can seem invulnerable, but she’s not complacent. She can’t take her foot off the pedal and that’s exhausting to live like that. It’s fun to play, and it’s challenging.”
She added: “Morgan doesn’t lose her cool a lot. She’s very controlled and she’s educated. But when we see her angry, it’s chilling.
In the BBC drama, the police investigate Dana’s club. Talking about the most challenging part of filming Blue Lights, Cathy said: “My mother was a social worker, so I was aware of reform growing up. I understood that if people fell on the difficult side of life, that there were others there to help them. I grew up around that, and I think that just interests me. I’m an ultra-liberal and I’ve worked in prisons doing restorative justice work.”
‘I hope Dana Morgan comes to a terrible end”
Dana Morgan is a complex, largely unlikable character. Cathy revealed: “Playing Dana Morgan, there was a time when I thought, I hope she comes to a terrible end. I’ve never said that about a character I play, but I don’t want to see her live like this. I felt as though there had to be a consequence for her. But I like her more now and understand why she’s motivated like this. She’s very rich, but she can’t show who she really is. She’s trapped.”
Meanwhile, Blue Lights co-creator Declan Lawn added: “Cathy Tyson plays Dana Morgan, a new powerful figure on the criminal side. And her nemesis within the police is Intelligence Department cop Paul Collins -aka Colly – who is played by Michael Smiley. In saying that, many of the regular characters are back and ready for action. We hope there are quite a few gripping moments, and a few emotional ones too. In this season our main characters go through some very difficult things.”
Cathy Tyson’s TV and film career before Blue Lights
Actress Cathy Tyson plays Dana Morgan in the cast of Blue Lights series 3, but she’s been on our screens for more than 40 years.
Cathy’s first ever TV role was as Joanna in the 1984 TV series Scully, but it was her next role that catapulted her to global fame. Two years later, in 1986, Cathy portrayed sex worker Simone in the award-winning film Mona Lisa, opposite Bob Hoskins. She was just 21.
After Mona Lisa, Cathy starred in the Wes Craven 1988 horror film The Serpent and the Rainbow. But it was another sex worker role which returned her to the spotlight in 1995. She starred as Carol Johnson in the hugely successful ITV drama series Band of Gold. The series ran from 1995 to 1997, and also starred Samantha Morton, Geraldine James, and Barbara Dickson. The spin-off, simply titled Gold, aired in 1997.
Cathy also played Steph McKenzie in the soap Night and Day, Miss Gayle in Grange Hill, and single mum Andrea Hayworth in Emmerdale. She’s popped up in McDonald & Dodds, Maternal, The Sandman, and Wolfe, too.
In 2021, she played Polly in the heartbreaking Covid drama Help, starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham – later to be her co-star in Boiling Point. In 2023, Cathy was cast as Carly’s mum Vivian in the TV spin off of the film set in a stressful restaurant kitchen.
More recently, Cathy has portrayed Doris Mathis in the Apple TV+ series Criminal Record, Kath Olivier in Vera, Raquella Berto-Anirul in Dune: Prophecy, and Jacqueline StClair in Death in Paradise. All the best shows!
Cathy Tyson in the acclaimed film Mona Lisa in 1986 (Credit: CoverImages)
What age is Cathy Tyson?
Cathy Tyson is a fabulous actress, whose performance in Help won her a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. But even she struggled to pull off the role of Carly’s mum in Boiling Point.
In real life, Cathy Tyson has just turned 60 years of age. So we’re not sure she was old enough to be convincing as Carly’s infirm mum. Vinette Robinson, who played Carly, is currently 43 years old.
Yes, we know it’s possible (we sat through biology lessons, thank you very much).
Who is the husband of Blue Lights star Cathy Tyson?
Cathy Tyson is currently married to Michael Kingston. And it’s hopefully second time lucky for the actress.
She was previously married to Craig Charles. They wed in 1984, when she was just 19, and he was 20. He was a performance poet and fellow actor whose huge break was just around the corner. They welcomed their son Jack in 1988. However, within a year, the couple were divorced.
Actress Cathy subsequently remained single for more than 25 years. She later admitted her “divorce was the light at the end of a very dark tunnel”. Happily, she eventually found love again, and married Michael Kingston in 2015.
Craig, who went on to find fame in Red Dwarf and later Corrie remarried in 1999. He wed Jackie Fleming, and had two daughters named Anna-Jo and Nellie.
What happened between Cathy and ex-husband Craig Charles?
Speaking several years after their divorce, Cathy told The Mirror that her bitter split from TV star Craig Charles left her so emotionally scarred that it took her years to find love again.
She revealed: “I just want to be happy. That’s the most important thing for me. And my marriage certainly didn’t make me feel happy. […] I used to blame Craig but I try not to any more.”
She added: “My divorce was the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. The divorce itself didn’t bring me down. I got divorced because I thought it was the only way forward.”
Cathy said her son Jack was about the best thing to come out of her marriage. Looking back, she believes the main reason the marriage failed was that both she and Craig were too young.
Why did they split up?
Recalling her five-year marriage to husband Craig, Blue Lights star Cathy Tyson went on to say: “I wasn’t depressed all through my marriage, but a lot of the bad stuff was to do with being quite young and not strong or confident enough to look after myself in relation to Craig.
“I wasn’t treated properly. […] I went through a lot in that marriage at a very young age. And I took on a lot of responsibility when I wasn’t ready for it. I used to feel a lot of guilt about my marriage not succeeding and Jack not having his dad at home, but I don’t anymore. It’s not my fault the marriage didn’t succeed.”
During the interview, Cathy also revealed she was once a real-life victim of domestic violence at the hands of a former lover.
