Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bardsley is an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
Media and Television Personality who rose to fame after appearing in the Channel 4 series
Wife SwapWife Swap is a reality television programme, produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert...
in 2003. After her appearance, Bardsley began making further and more frequent television appearances, and was most notably a member of
Celebrity Fit ClubCelebrity Fit Club is a reality television series which follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight for charity. Split into two competing teams of four, each week teams are given different physical challenges, and weighed to see if they reached their target weights...
, during the show's third series.
She currently resides in Rochdale with her husband and children.
Mark and Lizzy Bardsley appeared in an episode of the first series of the
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
programme
Wife SwapWife Swap is a reality television programme, produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert...
, which was aired on 7 October 2003.
Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bardsley is an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
Media and Television Personality who rose to fame after appearing in the Channel 4 series
Wife SwapWife Swap is a reality television programme, produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert...
in 2003. After her appearance, Bardsley began making further and more frequent television appearances, and was most notably a member of
Celebrity Fit ClubCelebrity Fit Club is a reality television series which follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight for charity. Split into two competing teams of four, each week teams are given different physical challenges, and weighed to see if they reached their target weights...
, during the show's third series.
She currently resides in Rochdale with her husband and children.
Media Appearances
Mark and Lizzy Bardsley appeared in an episode of the first series of the
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
programme
Wife SwapWife Swap is a reality television programme, produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert...
, which was aired on 7 October 2003. They caused controversy by claiming £37,500 a year in benefits, while not working, and by using frequent obscenities.
Following her appearance on
Wife Swap, Lizzy Bardsley appeared on
Kilroy and
The Weakest LinkThe Weakest Link is a British television quiz show broadcast on BBC One. It was devised by doctor and situation comedy writer Fintan Coyle and the comedian Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment Department. It has since been replicated around the world...
, in a celebrity edition which she won. She did interviews in many magazines, including
heatHeat is a British entertainment magazine published by Bauer Consumer Media. it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in other women's...
and
Closer and appeared topless in
The Sunday SportThe Sunday Sport is a British tabloid newspaper, published by Sport Newspapers, which was established in 1986. It has printed plainly ludicrous stories, such as a double-decker London bus being found frozen in the Antarctic ice, or a World War II bomber found on the moon. Defenders of the paper...
. In 2004, Bardsley appeared with many other reality TV stars in Five's
Back to Reality. The following year, she took part in the third series of
Celebrity Fit Club, and lost 1 stone 9 pounds. The same year Mark and Lizzy Bardsley starred in
Bed & Bardsleys, where they ran their own
BlackpoolBlackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Situated along the coast of the Irish Sea, it has a population of 142,900, making it the fourth-largest settlement in North West England behind Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington...
Bed and BreakfastA bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals...
. Since then, the Bardsleys have separated.
Criminal charges
In November 2004, Bardsley was accused of failing to inform the
Department for Work and PensionsThe Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the Government of the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security...
that she had earned money from TV and media appearances and was accused of being overpaid £4879.87. She denied the allegations and claimed that all the money she earned had been given to various charities and her sister. On 27 September 2004, Bardsley was found guilty of benefit fraud and sentenced to 80 hours
community serviceCommunity service is an act by a person that benefits the local community. People become involved in community service for many reasons: for some, serving community is an altruistic act, for others it is a punishment....
and ordered to pay £2400 costs. She was also told to pay back the money.
In March 2006, Lizzy Bardsley was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty. On 3 April, she was charged with 10 counts of child cruelty relating to offences between 1996 and 2005. Bardsley was found guilty at
BoltonBolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Situated close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
Crown CourtThe Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. It is the higher court of first instance in criminal cases; however, for some purposes the Crown Court is hierarchically...
of four charges of child cruelty on 23 January 2007, and on 23 February was given an eight month
suspended sentenceA suspended sentence is a legal construct. Unless a minimum punishment is prescribed by law, the court has the power to suspend the passing of sentence and place the offender on probation. It is the passing of the sentence, not the sentence itself, that is being suspended...
for two years at
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
Crown CourtThe Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. It is the higher court of first instance in criminal cases; however, for some purposes the Crown Court is hierarchically...
.