I GUESS I LOOK LIKE THE kind of person who goes out with footballers. The character I played in Hollyoaks married a footballer and I was approached by Footballers’ Wives to be in the first series. Then I met Danny Murphy, reality imitated fiction and last year I became a real footballer’s wife.

I’m from South London, but a couple of years back I lived in Liverpool, acting in Hollyoaks, then Merseybeat. One of my co-stars was friends with Danny, who told him something along the lines of “You’re working with that Joanna Taylor, get me her number”. So he did and, somewhat unexpectedly, I found myself on a date with a player. It’s fair to say I wasn’t filled with enthusiasm by the idea.

Danny had to beat a tough opponent — my preconceptions. I’d never considered going out with a footballer. They’ve got awful reputations, after all. And especially after the TV programme, it’s not like their wives have a better image.

Before I met Danny I was football-ignorant. I didn’t even know the difference between the Premiership and the FA Cup — I thought all the competitions were the same. I wasn’t aware of how big a deal Liverpool were. I returned home from a shopping trip with a friend’s kids and they started shouting: “Joanna’s going on a date with Eddie Murphy!” Him, I had heard of. Danny, I was less familiar with. So I did some research.

I phoned my brother’s Liverpool-supporting friends asking: “So who’s Danny Murphy, what’s he like?” They said: “Oh my God, he’s brilliant!” At the time, though, footballers didn’t really impress me. I can remember hearing about him on the radio because it was just after the 2002 World Cup and he’d come home injured, so it was all over Merseyside radio.

Anyway, I went out with this footballer. I guess my preconceptions cropped up once or twice in the conversation: Danny said I spent the whole of our first date telling him why it would never work between us and he left the date thinking: “Well, that’s that”. Then I called him, the relationship developed and we were married last year.

Now I’m a football follower. I watch Sky Sports News and if something’s happened and Danny’s away I’ll text him and I love it if I can text him something he doesn’t already know. And the more I got to know players, the deeper I got into their world, you know what? The majority of them are lovely. They get a bad press, but that’s because the good things they do — the charity work, the way most of them are honest, decent family guys — are never going to attract the headlines the way the isolated incidents of bad behaviour do.

No one believes Footballers Wives is accurate. What makes me laugh about the programme is the way the wives have so much involvement in the football club. I have no say in anything. The partners in the players’ lounge are more concerned with looking after their kids than plotting ridiculous schemes. The girlfriends all sit together and that’s really nice because we all genuinely get on.

One of the best things about being married to Danny is the pride I feel when I’m watching and he has a really good game. He doesn’t talk about it, but when he’s had a bad game that bothers him. If the team lose and he’s done everything he can, fine, but if he’s had a bad game it hurts.

People criticise a footballer’s performance on the pitch, whereas I find that, being a celebrity, people just criticise me thinking that they know me. I can remember reading so many things about me that used to upset me at the beginning and now I think: “Well, obviously they don’t know me at all.”

He tries hard for himself and for the club and the criticism bounces off him, especially when it’s from opposition fans. He’s quite thick-skinned and he can laugh about it. I reckon the acting world can be bitchier. I never hear Danny bitching about other footballers — I think that’s the difference between men and women. Men just get on with it.

Having my own career and my own income — and maybe because I played hard to get — probably appealed to Danny, in a way. We’re lucky that money isn’t a worry, so I pick and choose when I work now, which is great. My relationship with Danny and my home life is more important than my work. I wouldn’t necessarily accept a job that would take me away from home for a long time any more.

When Danny was playing for England he was away a lot and I’d get lonely. Still, at least our time apart stops us from taking each other for granted — it always makes us look forward to seeing each other.

We had so many plans for this summer, but they had to be scrapped when I got a part in a film that I’ve just finished with Martin Kemp and Dennis Waterman. We did go to Italy for a week and then I started filming. Stevie Gerrard lent us his beautiful villa in Portugal, Danny was out there with a few of the Liverpool guys and I joined him for a long weekend. Then he went to Spain with some other friends.

Leaving Liverpool last summer was such a shock to Danny that he started off not feeling comfortable and he wasn’t as fit as he should have been. That affected his form in the first half of the season. Then he settled down and started to play really well. I can see he’s a lot fitter than he was last summer, so hopefully he’ll help Charlton get into Europe.

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