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Coronation Street stars have been ordered to avoid making drastic changes to their appearance by show bosses.
According to the News of the World, producers issued the warning after growing tired of actors ruining continuity on the soap and forcing drastic rewrites through their new looks.
A source elaborated: "The memo landed through every cast member's door. They have been told they cannot change their appearance or body shape before asking permission. So they can't diet or have a haircut - and definitely no tattoo unless they get the green light."
The insider claims that producers took particular exception with Kym Marsh (Michelle Connor) and her £4,000 breast enhancement, the decision by Helen Flanagan (Rosie Webster) to get a tattoo of her lover's name and Bev Callard's desire to receive Botox injections and lose weight ahead of her wedding.
The insider added: "When scriptwriters hear something like that they go into a complete panic. How are they going to explain Liz [McDonald]'s weight loss or the change in her face?"
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Coronation Street star Alan Halsall has become the victim of Facebook fraudster who stole his identity.
The actor, who plays Tyrone Dobbs in the soap, contacted the social networking site to alert them to a fake profile set up in his name by an unknown individual.
According to The Mirror, the trickster had been posting messages about the star's private life and spoiling future plot lines to the 550 friends they had so far notched up.
Halsall's wife Lucy Jo Hudson, who starred as Katy Harris in Coronation Street between 2002 and 2005, later took to Twitter to decry the impostor's actions.
She wrote: "What freak would do this? Clearly he has no life. All Al's old schoolmates think they're talking to him. He's just been making stuff up. It's quite disturbing."
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Coronation Street actress Debbie Rush has revealed that she dropped three dress sizes in two months after a photograph left her in tears.
Rush, who plays Anna Windass in the ITV soap, showed off her new look at the Inside Soap Awards last week. She told Closer magazine that she has worked "really hard" to drop from a size 16 to a size 10.
"I was in tears when I saw pictures of how fat I was," she said. "But I thought I could either cry, or actually do something about it.
"Now I have a personal trainer who comes to my house three times a week. We do a mix of cardio and body weight exercises, like the plank and press-ups."
She continued: "I used to have no breakfast, a massive lunch at the Corrie canteen - like chips with curry sauce and a dessert - and something similar for dinner. Then I'd sit in front of the TV and have chocolate or popcorn.
"Now I make my own lunch and snack on veggie crudités or olives, I've cut down on carbs, sugar and fat, and I'm eating smaller portions, too," she added.
Rush revealed that she has set herself a target weight for Coronation Street's 50th anniversary celebrations, which will include a live episode.
"My goal is to be a size 8 for Corrie's 50th anniversary at Christmas," she said. "So I'm waiting till then to weigh myself.
'I feel so sexy now and my husband Andrew certainly has a different glint in his eye!"
She added: "I feel I'm getting the real me back!"
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Kim Cattrall has revealed that she thinks a role in Coronation Street would be "fun".
The Sex And The City star told Radio City 96.7 that she could follow in Sir Ian McKellen's footsteps by appearing in the ITV soap.
"Coronation Street is the soap that I am most familiar with," she said. "It would be fun."
She continued: "I know that Ian McKellen did one for a while. He was really chuffed about it and I thought that sounds like fun!
"I know they're coming up to a big anniversary too."
Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby) recently said that she "would love" Cattrall to join the soap as her on-screen mother.
"Maybe when Leanne was little she was a bit down in the dumps and I think she could come back really glamorous and give Leanne a good telling off for messing about with Nick," she said.
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Michael Le Vell got off to a bumpy start at Coronation Street, after denting co-star Bill Tarmey's car on his first day, it has been revealed.
The soap star has gone on to play Kevin Webster for 23 years in the show, but Bill Tarmey - who has just retired as Corrie's Jack Duckworth, revealed in his autobiography that Mike's first day at Granada Studios in Manchester didn't go too well.
Bill recalled: "Mike, who came in as Bill Webster's son Kevin, didn't make the best of impressions on his first day - I was walking out of the car park when Mike asked me where he should put his car."
He went on: "I told him to park it next to my blue Volvo. As he swung it by the side of mine, he put a dent in the door. Mike was full of apologies. He must have been a bag of nerves anyway, as he was an 18-year-old lad from stage school, about to appear in Coronation Street. Now he'd dented a cast colleague's car on his first day at work. I told him not to worry because I was selling it anyway.
"As it happens, the dealer who was buying it off me wasn't bothered. Mike and I soon became good friends."
And Bill, 69, is full of compliments for Sally Dynevor, who plays Kevin's wife Sally.
He revealed: "When she first joined the show I used a Manchester building site expression to give her a compliment. I said she'd got a bum like a shirt button.
"From time to time over the years she'd give me a wiggle and say: 'What do you think, Bill? Still like a shirt button?'."
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Coronation Street star Bill Roache has said that he thinks his character Ken Barlow has evolved during his time in Weatherfield.
The actor, who has starred in the show since the very first episode, insisted that he doesn't feel like he's played the same character for 50 years because of Ken's varied life.
He told the Sunday Mercury: "When people ask me why I've played the same role for 50 years, I try to explain that I haven't.
"Because like all human beings, and thanks to clever scriptwriters, Ken has evolved. He's been married three times, had 24 girlfriends and is head of a totally dysfunctional family.
"He has a son who is an alcoholic bigamist and a daughter who is a convicted murderer. How many actors get the chance to perform scenes with meaty content like that?"
Roache recently revealed that he was nearly axed from Coronation Street after just three years.
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CORRIE'S Helen Flanagan has revealed she lives in fear of being ATTACKED - as her brat character Rosie Webster is so hated.
Helen now refuses to go out without Swansea City star boyfriend, Scott Sinclair.
She said: "I've had girls say, 'You're such a bitch'. Girls are more bitchy than men but it can be quite dangerous sometimes.
"It's easier to go out when there's security and you're altogether."
But Helen, 20, insists she is nothing like Rosie. She said: "People say nasty things. I think it's because Rosie's so promiscuous but I'm a proper geek.
"I just think, 'Why are they mean?' But Scott's not bothered."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz127O6ac00
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CORRIE gets racy as Rosie Webster is tied to a bed wearing just her black lingerie in a forthcoming DVD special of the soap.
An underwear-clad Rosie, played by Helen Flanagan, ends up in the kinky position in new comedy Coronation Street: A Knight's Tale.
The fantasy jape, which is set away from the cobbles of Weatherfield in a medieval-themed stately home, features a host of the soap's characters getting up to crazy antics.
Things start to get sexy when new Corrie lovers Rosie Webster and Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas) end up in a love triangle with a plastic surgeon called Uri, played by former Holby City star Jeremy Edwards.
The comedy caper also sees the return of Corrie favourites Curly Watts (Kevin Kennedy) and Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley).
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Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz12FhJfNzD
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Brian Capron has claimed that his murderous Coronation Street alter ego Richard Hillman is more popular than ever.
The actor, who played the serial killer between 2001 and 2003, also revealed that he is "very proud" of the role.
He told What's On TV: "I'm very proud of Richard Hillman. Looking back on it, he seems to get more iconic as time goes on... It's extraordinary."
However, the 63-year-old insisted that he has succeeded in playing different roles to avoid being typecast.
The star added: "The thing is, it was seven and a half years ago and, really, for the last seven years I haven't done anything similar. I've kept away from anything to do with psychopathic characters!"
Since Corrie, Capron has starred in Where The Heart Is and appeared on the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2007.
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Coronation Street stars Bev Callard and Sue Nicholls have launched an attack on the acting industry for being "ageist".
Speaking to Stage, the veteran pair called for an increase in roles for older women on television.
Callard, 53, stated: "The business is very ageist towards women - much more than it is to men. I think it's wrong but unfortunately that's the way it is. It's a shame because we have got some of the best actresses in the world."
Meanwhile, 66-year-old Nicholls commented: "It's because we are in the 'look-ist' age and that is why so many people go and have work done. I don't know how you get over it, really.
"Older people feel they have got to start looking better and I think that is sad, because I don't think they should."
Actors' union Equity recently asked broadcasters to consider more female parts.
