Coronation Street

'Bodybag' from Bad Girls wasn't it ?

she's fab

Yep, she is a fab actor.

Highly unlikely in the short term at least - it's something they could do if he's bought back 10-20 years down the line, but they're not going to do it any time soon. Whether found guilty or not I doubt he'll return - we've seen before how others accused of sex related crimes have had their careers ruined regardless of whether or not the case made it to court, never mind the verdict delivered. I also suspect in the wake of the Jimmy Saville scandal the view at most TV companies will be "no smoke without fire" - so even if found Not Guilty they're not going to want to risk taking someone on where the decision could come back to bite them.


Back to soap and if this was an Aussie soap I suspect they would have recast already on a temporary basis, with intros that "The role of Kevin Webster is currently being played by...". I don't think that has ever happened in a UK soap though, with someone playing the role until the original actor could return.

Lucy Corkhill in Brookside was played by Katrin Cartlidge, somebody else then back to the original actress again.

Think that was Lucy Collins?

True. I immediately thought of Lucy Collins here, but the character was off screen (away in France) for a good while in between appearances. Katrin played the role (on and off) for about a year; then almost eighteen months after Katrin was last seen the second actress (Maggie Saunders) joined the cast for about a year. Then four years passed before Katrin reprised the role for a few months. So it wasn't as if Lucy was recast overnight or that Maggie Saunders was a temporary stand-in. Also (compared to someone like Kevin Webster) Lucy Collins was hardly a major character.

It happened in Crossroads in 1982 with an announcement recorded into the start of the episode, which was also accidentally replayed on UK Gold. It was due to Jean Kent falling ill so she had to be quickly replaced.

Apologies I did mean Lucy Collins! Originally she was a major character, but I agree she was became a minor player later on. Wasn't she brought back as the family were exiting after Doreen Sloane's death? Didn't Gordon Collins have three incarnations?

True, but there are notable exceptions where people have managed to restore their career after clearing their name - e.g. Matthew Kelly and the football manager Dave Jones.



It's funny how times change. As I recall, in 1985 nobody seemed to raise an eyebrow at the BBC's decision to cast Leslie Grantham, a convicted murderer, to play a major character in EastEnders.

Yes, I agree she was a major character in some ways, although she was absent for a good few months of the first stint. She returned around a couple of months or so before Annabelle's last appearance and left shortly afterwards. The producers made the decision to write out the entire Collins family to account for Doreen's character leaving. I assume this was always the plan should Doreen Sloane's cancer treatment not be successful. Doreen continued to appear on screen throughout most of her illness, and appeared a couple of times after her death.

Gordon was only played by two actors - Nigel Cowley and Mark Burgess. Again, the character was off-screen for well over a year before the new actor took over.

Sorry - this has gone somewhat off topic for a Corrie thread!

Didnt the Sun say anything at the time re Grantham?

Or am I misremembering something in Julia Smith's book?

Why would it be 'accidently replayed' by Uk Gold.

At least it wouldve saved viewers queries to Goldtext!