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Lillian Tyler is Chatsworths local busy-body and brothel Madame. Lillian's husband Brendan was accidentally shot dead by a young Carl Gallagher. Lillian and Brendan had only one child together, Rodney. Rodney was a problem child and his only time spent with his mother in recent years has been to use her for money. As of Series 5, Lillian has appeared much more in the show, becoming one of Chatsworth's most recognisable faces.

Lillian also runs a brothel at her home, a means of making easy money. It is through this new enterprise that she became close to prostitute Kelly Maguire.

Lillian had an affair with her best friend Carol Fisher's husband in the 1970's and when Carol found out 30 years later through some love letters she reported Lillian for benefit fraud.

In Series 8 Lillian developed a close relationship with a working girl at her brothel, Bonnie. Bonnie appeared to be a sweet, helpful girl who was being singled out by the other girls but when she arranged a situation to look like one of the other girls stole a piece of her jewellery Kelly became suspicious. When her lies turned her co-workers against her, she made it look as if she was going to leave but Lillian begged her to stay. This led to Lillian suggesting she adopt Bonnie but since she was too old for a formal adoption she took Lillian's last name instead and became Bonnie Tyler.

It soon became apparent that Lillian had given Bonnie everything she had, including the reins of the brothel's management, the house's deeds and access to her money. Bonnie did all sorts of things with this power, from moving Lillian into a bedroom complete with cooker to cut her off from the rest of the house, completely changing the Brothel, locking Lillian out of the house and even telling Lillian that if she wanted to stay in the house she would have to become a prostitute herself.

Though Kelly attempted to intervene both herself and with the Maguires Bonnie always managed to come out better off and once she had changed the brothel and given its daily running over to a security guard she left in an expensive car. Lillian tried to get her to stay, after all Bonnie had done she still loved her as a daughter. Lillian later tracked Bonnie to a posh penthouse apartment where Bonnie admitted that she had done this before, sneakily asserted herself into a business and taken it over through whatever means necessary. She also admitted to being forced into prostitution at a very young age by her own mother revealing this to be the reason why she couldn't feel Lillian's love as real. She finally locked herself in a room and cried her over her shock once she realised that after everything she had done, Lillian would continue to love her like a real mother. Lillian told her that she would be there if and when Bonnie wanted her before removing the key to the brothel and leaving. Unbeknown to Lillian, drunk and overwhelmed by Lillian's honest feelings Bonnie jumped from the balcony before Lillian left the apartment. She was lying dead on the pavement under a sheet while Lillian walked away.

Despite being horrified and upset at the idea of being a prostitute when Bonnie suggested it, Lillian has since made many comments that suggest she has done just that. Catering for men with an interest in "grannies", Lillian has apparently become just as popular at the brothel as any of the other girls.

In Episode 9 of Series 10, it was revealed that Lillian was born in South Africa, and was brought to the UK as a young child. However, she never formally became a citizen on the grounds that she "couldn't be bothered" with filling out the forms. But she managed to pass her British citizen's test after being coached by Kelly Ball and Gloria Meak.

Series 11[]

Lillian asks Kelly to retrieve some money from a locker, but when Kelly and her boyfriend Marty Fisher discover there is more money then they expected, they decide to steal some of the money. This ends the close friendship between Lillian and Kelly when she finds out about this.

When Lillian discovers that Kelly and Marty have left the estate, she is upset, having considered Kelly to be like a daughter, even though she can not mention her name after Kelly had stolen from her.

Lillian builds up a friendship with Stella Gallagher, allowing her to spend time in the brothel after she is locked out of her own house. After discovering Stella has head lice that she passes on to her prostitutes, she bans Stella from the brothel. Stella makes various attempts at friendship with Lillian. Later Lillian is seen helping Stella clean the head lice from her hair.

Lillian also gets a new boyfriend.


Notes[]

  • Lillian lives and runs her Brothel at 28 Meadow Bank Road.
  • Lillian's gender is sometimes made to appear ambiguous, Frank in particular seems to feel she is actually a man. A Post Credit Scene in Series 5 shows Lillian entering the men's toilets in The Jockey and urinating at a urinal, with a penis, though it can be assumed that Frank is meant to have hallucinated this due to her being suddenly gone when he turns around.[1]
  • Frank often makes reference to her resemblance to Melanie Brown of Spice Girls fame's caricature from the TV series Bo' Selecta!.
  • Alice Barry was originally meant to appear in a cut scene from Series 1, in which she played a nun. When she eventually cast as Lillian, the character was only meant to be a minor fixture but she proved so popular with viewers that she was developed into a main character.[2]
  • In the US Adaption a version of Lillian Tyler was originally written in, and it be played by Angelica Huston, but due to funding and character development, the character was written off.

Appearances[]

References[]

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