They might be household names on our TV screens but the children of several ITV stars have already surpassed their parents’ careers. The Mirror takes a look at the next generation’s rises to fame

Loose Women stars Linda Robson and Denise Welch have more in common than just their presenter statuses.

Along with Coronation Street actresses Sally Dynevor and Katy Cavanagh, and primetime presenter Bradley Walsh, all of the well-known ITV faces have children who have shot to fame themselves. “At the end of the day he’s just my little boy and having a famous mum is something that he’s used to,” Denise told Luxe magazine.

Bradley said of his famous son: “He’s a great lad. I’ve said it on many occasions, he’s the person I always wanted to be. He’s got wonderful humility, he’s very sensitive.”

From heading to Hollywood to performing at sell out world tours, we find out who the five celebrities’ offspring are and how they achieved huge success…

Linda Robson and Louis Dunford

Football fans were shocked to learn Linda was Louis Dunford’s mum ( 
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She’s the Loose Women panellist best known for playing Tracey in BBC ’90s sitcom Birds of a Feather but not everyone is aware Linda Robson’s son is famous too. Louis Dunford is a talented singer-songwriter best known for Arsenal football club’s anthem The Angel (North London Forever).

Louis, 32, started playing the piano when he was 15 and his music was discovered by late music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards – son of Loose Women panellist Brenda Edwards – back in 2014. Linda was recently spotted shedding tears at an Arsenal game when Louis’s song was played, with a spectator uploading footage onto social media which went viral.

Many football fans were amazed at the mother-son link between the pair, writing comments like ‘mind blown’ under the viral video. Linda, 66, had Louis and daughter Roberta with window cleaning company owner Mark Dunford, with the couple parting ways last year.

Denise Welch and Matty Healy

Denise says her musician son is a ‘creative genius’ ( 
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David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

The rockstar briefly dated Taylor Swift ( 
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Fellow Loose Women star Denise is beyond proud of her musician son. Matty Healy is the frontman of The 1975, who have had five number one albums in the UK and enjoyed success in the notoriously hard-to-crack US too.

“I just think: ‘Sometimes I can’t believe I gave birth to you’,” said Denise, calling her son a ‘creative genius’. “We are like, insanely close,” said Matty of his famous mum, with actor Tim Healy his dad. The songwriter’s emotional track She Lays Down tells the story of the post natal depression Denise, 65, suffered after giving birth to him.

Matty, 35, famously dated megastar Taylor Swift for a couple of months last year, with Denise posting a backstage snap with the Shake It Off singer on her social media. The former Coronation Street star loves attending her eldest son’s gigs, saying: “I get an amazing response from his fans. They wave and I wave back and suddenly it is like a ripple effect and 30,000 people are screaming at me. I’ve now learned to embrace it because they are so lovely.”

Sally and Phoebe Dynevor

Coronation Street star Sally has told daughter Phoebe to enjoy fame ( 
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sallydynevor/Instagram)

The Bridgerton star looked flawless on the Met Gala red carpet ( 
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Getty Images for The Met Museum/)

Sally Dynevor has played Sally Webster in Coronation Street since 1986 but while the actress is a household name in the UK, her daughter is famous worldwide thanks to the success of Netflix’s Bridgerton. Phoebe Dynevor starred in the first series of the steamy period drama, which reached a staggering 82 million households in its first 28 days of release in 2020.

Phoebe, 29, became famous overnight and says her mother being in the same profession was a massive help. “There was a certain point with Bridgerton where I was over-analysing everything and my mum told me to just embrace it all and not to be terrified of it,” the star recently told Elle UK.

Sally, 60, accompanied her daughter to the BAFTA Film Awards this February, writing on social media: ‘Had the time of my life’. Phoebe headed to the iconic Met Gala this month, sporting a huge diamond on her ring finger which sparked rumours she was set to wed US actor beau Cameron Fuller. Sally then posted a social media snap of a delighted Phoebe jumping into Cameron’s arms at what appeared to be a country estate, with a rainbow in the sky behind them – could that have been the moment they got engaged?

Katy Cavanagh and Noah Jupe

Noah was nominated for an award for his role in 2019 film Honey Boy ( 
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AFP via Getty Images)

The actor’s Coronation Street star mum quit the soap to help him in Hollywood ( 
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Coronation Street star Katy Cavanagh played bubbly Julie Carp in the soap for seven years and just like Denise Welch and Sally Dynevor, she has a very successful acting offspring. Noah Jupe played Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant’s son in 2020 HBO psychological thriller The Undoing, which attracted huge viewing figures on both sides of the Atlantic.

Noah, 19, also had roles in ITV’s Downton Abbey in 2015 and 2016’s The Night Manager on the BBC. He is also known for his film roles, which include 2019’s Ford v Ferrari and Honey Boy the same year, playing a young Shia LaBeouf, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.

Katy, 50, is married to Noah’s dad, filmmaker and producer Chris Jupe with the couple having three kids, Noah, Jemima and Jacobi. The actress is said to have left Coronation Street to support her son’s Hollywood career and Jacobi is an actor too, bagging a role in Disney’s Peter Pan and Wendy film at the age of seven. “It’s a crazy world out there,” Noah told the Independent in 2021. “And it’s an equally if not more crazy world in Hollywood or in the movie industry. So to have that close circle of people that I trust, my family or my close friends, is very important.”

Bradley and Barney Walsh

The father and son duo co-presented the popular revamp of Gladiators ( 
Image:
BBC / James Stack / © Hungry Bear Media Ltd)Bradley Walsh is one of the biggest names on TV, known for hosting and acting in countless shows including ITV’s The Chase and Coronation Street. But now there’s a new presenter in town – Bradley’s son Barney Walsh.

Barney, 26, attracted accusations of nepotism earlier this year when he was hired alongside his dad to co-host the BBC’s high-profile revamp of hit ’90s show Gladiators. But the star already had a host of acting credits to his name including The Larkins and Death in Paradise, plus in Guy Ritchie’s 2017 film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

The father-son duo have get on so well they teamed up for their own reality show on ITV Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad, which has run for five series to date. “He has always been my son, and you always take care of them,” said Bradley, 63, who has a daughter called Hayley too. “But then all of a sudden he becomes your equal and a work colleague, and a mate, and someone you respect. Now I look up to him.”