REAL LIFE footballers' wives living in Wilmslow have been quick to distance themselves from the outrageous lifestyles of the characters portrayed in the raunchy television show of the same name.

It comes in the wake of the Archbishop of Canterbury's condemnation of the sordid lifestyle portrayed in the hit TV series.

Indeed, the real wives are just as shocked - albeit amused - at the tales of lurid sex and bitter rivalry as seen in the series, currently being screened on ITV.

The day to day lives of Dawn Ward, Faye Campbell and Gemma Curtis, spouses of real football stars are "far removed" from the antics of Amber and Tanya on TV.

Dawn, wife of Ashley Ward who plays for Sheffield United, is a busy mother of two who helps run a nursing home which the couple own as well as keeping a close eye on the designer boutique, Apparel, which she set up in Wilmslow.

She said their own lives were mundane when compared to the fantasy world played out on the screen but admitted they nevertheless enjoyed a taste of the celebrity lifestyle on occasions.

Dawn meets regularly with several other footballers' wives at Apparel in Water Lane, which she has now sold to a friend Clare Sudweeks.

She said the shop, which specialises in the sort of clothes worn by the stereotype footballers' wives and others keen to keep up with the latest designer trends, was a perfect meeting place for a chat.

Friendships are close and wives and partners are supportive of each other. The last time they got together had been to promote a charity fashion show.

Dawn along with Faye, wife of Kevin Campbell of Everton and Gemma, married to John Curtis of Blackburn Rovers, were models for the day at a bash held at Handforth's Belfry House Hotel to raise cash for the high profile Kirsty Howard appeal. They were on the catwalk together alongside professionals from the Boss agency in Manchester, also modelling for Apparel.

"It was quite nerve wracking experience, and very hectic," said Dawn. "We were all there bright and early for rehearsals with a professional choreographer who put us through our paces and then we were whisked off for hair and make up and then it was back again for more rehearsals."

"But we were glad to do it. I'm always glad to help my favourite charity, Francis House, and equally to help Apparel, the shop I set up myself, now run by Clare, who puts on the fashion show."

"The event raised a fantastic £15,000 proving that the real world of footballers' wives is far removed from the way it is sometimes portrayed."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Rev Rowan Williams, said the TV series was a stark warning against the "works of the flesh," with examples of greed, treachery and selfishness. In a diocesan newsletter he wrote of the material world that is almost all to do with different kinds of selfish behaviour that is destructive to other people's welfare, safety and reputation.

"The works of the flesh are what you see on Footballers' Wives on television and what you read on lots of websites, a world in which charity and fairness, generosity, a sense of perspective about yourself are all swept aside," he said.

Eileen Gallagher, spokesperson for programme makers, Shed Productions, said they wanted to make it an antidote to all the overblown celebrities seen in society. "I wouldn't want to paint all footballers and their wives with the same brush. But when we were doing our research we found a world that was shallow and money obsessed," she said.