Background
Shaw was born into the hotel and public trade, at the time when her parents ran the Talbot Hotel in Belper, Derbyshire.
Shaw was born into the hotel and public trade, at the time when her parents ran the Talbot Hotel in Belper, Derbyshire.
She attended Street Benedict"s School in Derbyshire, learnt classical dance at Hilda Davis School of Dance, Belper and went to the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester in 1990, where she got a degree in theatre studies.
She is best known for her role as hairdresser Maxine Peacock in British soap opera Coronation Street during the 1990s and early 2000s. Her best known work was as Maxine in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. However, Shaw came into conflict with the show"s bosses after they reportedly tried to cut her pay by £20,000 a year and she bowed out from her role as a result.
Shaws"s character met a tragic end in the episode screened on 13 January 2003, when she was murdered by Richard Hillman (played by Brian Capron).
She has also appeared in numerous Independent Television dramas. In 2003 Shaw appeared as Sally in the stage play The Blue Room, starring alongside Jason Connery.
She also had a short lived popular career in 1998, releasing two singles on the Love This Records record label, "Ridin" High" and a cover of Lonnie Gordon"s top 10 hit, "Happenin" All Over Again". In 2000, stalker Kevin Sedgwick pleaded guilty to harassing Shaw over a period of five years.
He had written a number of letters to her, as well as Coronation Street co-stars Jacqueline Pirie and Jennifer James, and hung around the grounds of Granada Studios in Manchester, put his arms around Shaw, and asked for a kiss.
Sedgwick pleaded guilty later that year to multiple acts of gross indecency with children and had suffered from hearing voices in his head