Michelle Collins and John Michie join as Stella and Karl

[Perdita]

EASTENDERS superbitch Cindy Beale is heading for a comeback – on Coronation Street.

Michelle Collins looks set to move north after a secret meeting with Corrie’s top boss.

The actress, 49, who played schemer Cindy on and off for ten years, has admitted she would love to return to the soap world.

But since Cindy died in prison in 1998, she was always going to have to wait for another soap.

Her close friend Phil Collinson is now in charge at Corrie and she has finally got the call.

The actress met up with Phil, 40, earlier this month to discuss joining the Street.

But the news is bound to come as a bitter blow to EastEnders as Cindy was one of soap’s most famous bitches.

A Corrie insider said: “Michelle would be a great signing for Corrie.

“She’s known Phil for a number of years so it was only a matter of time before he got her in for a meeting to discuss the possibility of joining the cast.

“The Street has a lot of strong female characters and she’d certainly mix it up a bit.

“Phil is a huge fan of her work and has been trying to get her up to Manchester for a meeting for months.

“He had to get the 50th anniversary out of the way before he looked at bringing her in. But now he’s started the ball rolling he’s very excited.

“Cindy was one of the best soap characters that ever appeared in Albert Square but enough time has now passed for her to turn up in Corrie as someone completely different.

“But of course it will be a bit of a blow to EastEnders. A lot of fans felt they should never have killed Cindy off but it’s great for everyone up at Corrie that they did.”

Michelle met Phil for a lengthy meeting over lunch at a trendy Manchester restaurant.

A pal said: “He seemed very keen to get her on board.

“The meeting seemed to go really well. There was lots of laughing and joking.”

Last year Michelle said: “I wouldn’t turn my back on doing a soap again. I’d like a stint in Coronation Street.”

Daily Star Sunday

[tammyy2j]

Who could she play?

Claudia's daughter perhaps

[Perdita]

Michelle Collins has admitted that she has been "working hard" to perfect a Northern accent for her new Coronation Street role.

The 50-year-old filmed her first scenes as the Rovers Return's new landlady Stella Price last month. However, Collins has confessed to finding it tough to develop the right accent for the character.

"I've been working hard with a dialect coach to get the right accent but it's tough," she told Closer magazine. "At least I'm very good at pulling pints - I did that when I was an out-of-work actress."

On landing her new role, the former EastEnders star remarked: "I have to keep pinching myself that I'm actually in Corrie."

Collins previously confessed that she signed up for another soap role in order to have the financial security to ensure that her daughter Maia Rose can go to university.

"It is quite nice to have a bit of security in my life because my daughter is 14 and will be off to uni - so she will be able to go now," she said at the time.

Collins will be joined by Taggart star John Michie, who will play her on-screen husband Carl, and Catherine Tyldesley, who will portray their daughter Eva.

[Perdita]

Michelle Collins has revealed that her Coronation Street co-star Antony Cotton showed her the ropes at the Rovers Return during her first days of filming at the soap.

The former EastEnders actress recently took on the role of Weatherfield newcomer Stella Price, who arrives in the area and becomes the pub's new landlady later this week.

Speaking on This Morning today, Collins confirmed that Cotton's experience of pulling pints as Sean Tully proved invaluable when she shot her first scenes at the boozer.

"He's great actually, he showed me how the tills work, where the beers were kept, where this was kept," Collins explained.

"And obviously you have to love your prop men that help you, because it's a bit of a Blue Peter thing - where something is prepared for you a little bit earlier so you just do the rest of it."

Asked whether she already knew members of the Coronation Street cast before joining the show, Collins replied: "I did know quite a lot of people - over the years at various dos and things like that, and I've worked with a few people. But now I know them because I think I've served every single character in the pub now - I think I've done them all now."

Collins went on to describe Stella as "a modern woman" who is "the breadwinner" in her family.

She added: "She's kind, she's warm, she's funny, she's a real sort of northern strong woman with a good heart."

Coronation Street airs Stella's first episode on Thursday at 8.30pm on ITV1.

[Perdita]

Michelle Collins has said that Coronation Street viewers are generally more positive about her accent now.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the Stella Price actress insisted that she does not believe her Manchester twang has altered at all since joining in June last year.

Producer Phil Collinson and various cast members have publicly defended Collins after her debut performance as the show's new Rovers Return landlady drew criticism from some sections.

She admitted: "It's funny, people now come up to me and say, 'Oh your accent is much better now', but I haven't changed a thing!"

Referring to her role on EastEnders, which she played between 1988 and 1998, the 51-year-old added: "I knew it was always going to be hard for people to adjust to seeing Cindy Beale in the Rovers at first.

"But I think now viewers have accepted me a bit more, it's great."

Collins, whose character is currently involved in a gambling storyline, recently signed a new contract with the ITV soap.

[Katy]

I did think she was getting better but when she went all dramatic over leanne leaving she was really bad and ott. and the accent proper grated on me!!

[Dazzle]

She admitted: "It's funny, people now come up to me and say, 'Oh your accent is much better now', but I haven't changed a thing!"

This smacks of arrogance to me. If I'd received the criticism that Michelle Collins had, I'd get a coach to help me with the accent (or a different coach if I already had one).

I can tell her accent hasn't changed because it still grates on me as much as ever.

[alan45]

© ITV
Coronation Street bosses have revealed that they plan to share some big news with the soap's online fans.

An "exciting" announcement about the Weatherfield show will be posted up exclusively on Corrie's official Facebook page, giving the programme's internet fanbase the chance to get the inside scoop first.

A Corrie spokesperson told DS today: "We're going to be making a big Corrie announcement exclusively on the official Corrie Facebook page soon, so fans of the show should go to www.facebook.com/coronationstreet to get the news first - as and when it breaks."

Details of the announcement and exactly when it will be made are currently being kept tightly under wraps.

[lizann]

They have offered me the role of new landlady of the Rovers that is the big announcement

[alan45]

They have offered me the role of new landlady of the Rovers that is the big announcement

They have replaced all the cast with chickens and in future it will be known as Coronation Chicken



Seriously tough. I wonder if its anything to do with the announcement of a new landlady for T'Rovers