Frankie Jules-Hough was 17 weeks pregnant with her third child when a speeding driver killed her on the M66 in Greater Manchester in May 2023. The 38-year-old actress, known to millions for her roles in Hollyoaks, Wire in the Blood, Where The Heart Is, Heartbeat and Merseybeat, had been told just six days earlier that she was expecting a little girl.
Frankie was preparing for a new role as mother to a daughter when her life was cut short, leaving her partner Calvin Buckley and their two young sons devastated.
Career and family
Frankie starred as Jess Holt in the Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks. Her character was the girlfriend of Sol Campbell, played by actor Paul Danan, who died in 2025. She also appeared in Wire in the Blood, Where The Heart Is, Heartbeat and Merseybeat.
At the time of the crash, Frankie was looking after her nephew as well as her own sons. She was dropping one of her sons off at his dad's house when tragedy struck.
The crash on the M66
Frankie's car developed a puncture on the M66, so she pulled over onto the hard shoulder. That was when Adil Iqbal, then 22, crashed into her car after losing control of his father's BMW. Earlier, Iqbal had filmed himself driving at speeds of up to 123mph.
Calvin described their final goodbye: "We said goodbye, I told her I loved her and I never saw her again."
He recalled: "I received a call to say she had been in a crash and wasn't conscious. My first thought was that she had lost the baby. The traffic was snarled up when I reached the motorway, I just got out of the car and ran as fast as I could, it felt as though I was running forever."
"When I got there, it was like a horror scene, Frankie's car was mangled, I don't know how anyone could survive that. The boys were on the ground, Frankie was being treated by paramedics. I didn't know who to run to first. My whole world just imploded."
A double loss
Frankie was taken by air ambulance to Preston Hospital, where her family were told her brain injuries were so severe she was unlikely to survive. There was one chink of light: her unborn daughter, Neeve, still had a heartbeat. However, Calvin was told their baby would only survive if Frankie did.
Calvin kept an agonising vigil at her bedside for two days before both Frankie and Neeve passed away. He said: "That was utterly heart-breaking to hear. Not only did I have to watch Frankie slip away from me, but I knew that when she did, our daughter's heart would stop beating too."
"I stayed with Frankie for two days, holding her hand, but she couldn't fight any longer – and when she died, Neeve wasn't strong enough to survive on her own. It still doesn't seem real, it's a nightmare that I play over and over in my mind."
The boys survive
Frankie's two sons were both seriously injured in the crash. Calvin said he had no time to grieve as they lay in comas in hospital.
"I didn't have time to grieve, as the boys were still in hospital in a coma, and my focus just switched to them for the next three or four weeks. We didn't know if they would survive."
"It was the most unimaginably cruel situation. We were praying for the boys to wake up, but knew that when they did we would have to tell them Frankie and Neeve were gone."
Thankfully, both boys pulled through after spending weeks in intensive care, despite suffering brain injuries.
Justice and a road safety campaign
Adil Iqbal was originally jailed for 12 years for causing death by dangerous driving. Three appeal judges later increased the sentence to 15 years after concluding the original term was unduly lenient.
Following Frankie's death, her son Tommy Spencer and nephew Tobias Welby helped design a road safety programme with bright and colourful characters to teach young children about keeping families safe on the roads. Calvin and Frankie's father, Frank, took the creations into schools.
Calvin said: "We wanted the children to be involved, it's something there so they are seeing their mum and sister remembered all the time, it celebrates their memory. We have a culture where it's cool to drive like an idiot and put people's lives at risk."
"People ask me if I hate the driver who killed Frankie and Neeve, but that's not who I am most angry at. I'm angry at a culture of reckless driving, which meant he was able to get likes on social media for reckless and lawless driving. Road deaths feel acceptable and they shouldn't be."
"Education is the best route out of this – we need proper road safety education in schools and on the curriculum. There's nothing more important than learning how to stay alive."
