Debbie McGrath is a fictional character in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, played by teenager Gillian Kearney, from 1986 to 1989.
She was both younger than Damon and under the age of consent, two facts which caused friction between the parents of both characters, a plot-line which saw one critic refer to it as like "Romeo and Juliet in trackies".
[2] When their parents objected to them dating, the couple decided to elope in a story shown in the first UK 'soap bubble', Damon and Debbie.
After the birth of her son, Simon, she made a brief return to the Close to introduce her child to his grandmother, Sheila (Sue Johnston), before departing for university.
Francesca Babb from All About Soap stated that Damon and Debbie were "star-crossed young lovers" whose storyline took a "Romeo & Juliet style twist" as they ran away to York.