Rivals actress joins best friend for London Marathon tribute to late husband

Lisa McGrillis, who plays Valerie Jones, is fundraising for the British Heart Foundation with Mary Cann whose husband Nigel died from a heart attack.

Rivals actress Lisa McGrillis will be by her best friend’s side when they run the TCS London Marathon as a fundraising tribute to Mary Cann’s husband who died suddenly last year.

Nigel Cann, who was 47, suffered a heart attack and they are fundraising for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in his memory.

McGrillis told the PA news agency: “The thing is with grief, which I’m learning all the time, there’s nothing anyone can say or do to make the situation any better so this has really been my way of supporting Mary.”

Mary Cann (left) and Lisa McGrillis have been friends for more than 30 years (Handout/PA)

McGrillis, who will return to the role of Valerie Jones for series two of the Disney+ adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper’s novel which begins filming in May, added: “Mary and I both grew up in Carlisle. We were at different schools but we met through a mutual friend when Mary was 11 and I was 12.

“We have really been best friends ever since.”

Mr Cann, a “huge Liverpool fan” who was from near Manchester, died suddenly in May 2024 after kissing his two young daughters goodnight and heading out to play padel tennis in Abu Dhabi where the family live.

Nigel Cann and wife Mary outside a church on their wedding day as guests throw confetti — Mary Cann’s ‘funny and charismatic’ husband Nigel died from a sudden heart attack in May 2024 (Kirsty Mattsson/PA)

“He was such an incredibly funny and charismatic man. I’ve never known a more loved man than Nige. He left such a lasting memory on everyone.

“He was one of those people who walked in a room with an energy. He was so charismatic and such a lovely daddy. His girls adored him.”

McGrillis said one of his phrases was “if anyone Cann, Nige Cann”, a phrase which has inspired their marathon.

“Three weeks after Nige died Mary said ‘I want to run the London Marathon’,” she told PA.

Lisa McGrillis wearing a red and white British Heart Foundation running vest at Tooting Bec track in south London — McGrillis said running for the British Heart Foundation ‘made complete sense’ (Ollie Holder/BHF/PA)

“She was like ‘I want to do it’ and I was like ‘right, ok, I’m going to make it my mission to get us into the London Marathon’. That’s why I’m doing it too.”

McGrillis, 42, said their “really special friendship” has endured although they live in different countries.

“The marathon has been a really amazing way to stay connected to her. We check in every day, the training and having this huge feat ahead of us has been a really brilliant way to sort of support Mary and kind of be on this journey with her.”

She added: “Mary’s grief is different to my grief. What I want to be able to do, and what my goal is, I just want to be able to run with her. I want to be able to be next to her when she’s doing it, be her support, and that’s what my goal is but I think she’s faster than me and probably slightly fitter than I am now.

“I hope I can keep up with her. We’ll have to see on the day.”

Bafta TV and Craft awards — McGrillis is married to fellow actor Stuart Martin (PA)

“Marathon training, I never realised how all consuming it it is. I just thought it’s fine, you just put on a pair of trainers and go out for a jog and then the jog gets longer and you get stronger and fitter. But it’s so much more complicated than that,” McGrillis told PA.

“I think I pushed myself too much and I’m paying the consequences now.”

She had considered aiming for a time but added: “Now I just want to get round.”

McGrillis’s actor husband Stuart Martin and their son Joshy, eight, and daughter Cleo, four, are expected to be among a large group of relatives cheering them on April 27.

Actress Lisa McGrillis sitting on a running track wearing a red British Heart Foundation vest — McGrillis said training for the marathon has been ‘all consuming’ (Ollie Holder/BHF/PA)

“She said ‘if we can raise money just to help one family not have to go through what we’re having to go through then it will be worth it’.”

The BHF said heart and circulatory diseases cause around a quarter (26%) of all deaths in the UK, more than 170,000 deaths a year, or 480 each day – one every three minutes.

Around 49,000 people under the age of 75 in the UK die from heart and circulatory diseases each year.

Around twice as many people are living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK than with cancer and Alzheimer’s disease combined.

The BHF said the annual number of deaths from heart and circulatory diseases in the UK has fallen by nearly half since it was established in 1961.

– Lisa and Mary are running to raise vital funds for the British Heart Foundation’s lifesaving research to help keep more families together longer. To donate visit: https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/lisa-and-mary.