Michelle Collins and John Michie join as Stella and Karl

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The actress, formerly Cindy Beale in EastEnders, confessed in a frank interview with The Sun that her stint on Coronation Street has been far from plain sailing.

Michelle, now playing northerner Stella Price, revealed: "I thought I could just come in through the back door. But, as landlady of the Rovers, you just can't do that!

"I am having a great time working on Corrie but it's also really tough and I don't think you can ever feel settled in a job.

"I act each scene as if it's going to be my last. You never know if you are going to get a scene where you die!"

Not that Street bosses have any plans to kill Stella off — far from it. They've packed her diary with storylines. Over the next few weeks, an unsuspecting Stella discovers Karl has been gambling away the couple's savings, running up tens of thousands of pounds' worth of debt too — and when the pub boss finds out, she sends him packing.


But Karl has also been growing close to her best friend Sunita who, feeling unloved at home, is happy to be his shoulder to cry on.

Michelle is looking forward to the gritty plot which will leave viewers wondering whether Karl does the dirty on her or not.

"I don't want to work on a soap where you are just pouring tea," says Michelle.

"For me, it would be soul-destroying and now people have had a chance to get to know Stella, it's great to be given some big storylines.

"She is a strong, feisty woman who is very much the breadwinner. But the question is: Can a strong woman have it all? Yes, she has got a pub she always dreamed of owning and a daughter she has found but all this has meant she has taken her eye off the ball when it comes to her own marriage."



Michelle thinks the storyline will strike a chord with many women who constantly wonder if they have "got it all".

Ask this very question to Michelle and she thinks not.

The actress, who has a 15-year-old daughter, Maia, from a previous relationship with Fabrizio Tassalini, confesses: "No, I don't think I have ever had it all.

"When I think about the good jobs and great relationships I have had in the past, I think they have come at different times.

"I really do think that whilst men may initially be happy you are a strong woman, they don't like it after a while."

Michelle has enjoyed several long romances and been engaged but she has never married.

Now single and happy to be so, she goes on to reveal that she finds it hard to meet potential boyfriends who are happy to let her take all the limelight — given she is a TV star.

She says: "I need to find a man who is quite happy with that. But would I date another actor? No.

"Two actors for me don't really go. It is not a marriage or relationship made in heaven.

"There is too much insecurity if one is out of work and it can become very competitive if one is more successful than the other.

"For me, I don't think it would be a good idea to date an actor.

"This storyline with Stella is good and I think it does strike a chord with people. It makes you wonder if you can have a career and keep a man happy at the same time. I am sure it works for some people." Michelle also admits she has found it hard commuting from her London home, where her daughter lives, to Manchester every week — but moaning about it is definitely not her style.

She says: "Playing Stella is a great role and I feel lucky to have been given the chance when there are so many actresses who aren't working very much.

"It's tough, though, because Corrie is not based in my home town. I wouldn't moan because a lot of people in Manchester could turn around and say, 'Well, I can do that job' and I feel grateful to be playing Stella. But being a single parent is difficult. It constantly means I am juggling and, yes, I have a good team around me as my family help out and I have someone who lives in but I want to be there for my daughter too.

"It's why I am happy being on my own right now. I can't come back home and then go out at weekends, going on a date."

While the rest of the cast have made Michelle feel at home on set, she confesses there was a difficult time after critics questioned her northern accent.

"That was horrible," reveals Michelle. "It did make me go home and think, 'I want to leave.' But then I realised I needed to put everything into perspective. I was like, 'No, I have been an actress for a long time. I can't be that c**p or I wouldn't be here today.'

"I had to keep my head held high. I couldn't walk out." Now seven months on, Michelle is chuffed to bits that viewers have taken her character to their hearts.

She adds: "People are now really positive about Stella. I have received some lovely letters with people saying such nice things."

But does Michelle see herself staying in the soap for a long time?

The down-to-earth actress says she would not be so arrogant as to think she has a right to be in such a top-rated soap for ever. "It's very easy to get lazy but I would never do that," she says. "I love Coronation Street but I really could not say if I will be here in ten years.

"My family and friends are down in London and I am leading a nomadic life at the moment. I don't know how long I will be able to keep it up for but I am enjoying myself a lot."

And when she isn't busy working or spending time with her daughter, she is happy to champion Barnardo's Child In Crisis Appeal.

She says: "I've seen first-hand the families that Barnardo's work with and it is clear to me that many of them really are at crisis point.

"Barnardo's services help the poorest families, many who are being priced out of a decent living." With that parting shot, Michelle has to dash off to learn lines for her next scene.

As she leaves, you wonder if she will ever find love again and be able to boast that she is, indeed, a woman who has it all.

She declares: "I've met a lot of frogs and maybe a prince will come along but right now I really don't need a man

"I am not just saying that. My priority is my daughter. She will always come first."

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ACTOR John Michie today takes the Sunday Mail behind the scenes on Coronation Street, Taggart and the loving family life that has been the foundation of his acclaimed career.
In his fullest interview yet, the Corrie star - who is about to enjoy a huge storyline with badboy character Karl Munro - talks of his African childhood and his dismay at the demise of Taggart.
He also reveals how he fell in love with Hot Gossip dancer Carol Fletcher and how their three kids have followed him into showbiz.
Actor pays tribute to colleagues in Weatherfield...and Maryhill

John yesterday said he cannot wait for his Corrie character Karl to hurtle into a gambling hell.
Hooked on casinos, Karl is about to get deeper and deeper into trouble with massive repercussions for those around him.
The star, who joined Britain’s most famous soap last year, said: “It’s really going to kick off for Karl shortly.
“He has been set up as a gambler and a dodgy character so it should be quite fun but very hard work and there’s a nice little twist in it.”
It will mean plenty of extra hours on set for John as his character takes centre stage.
He added: “Corrie is brutal. There are five episodes shot a week.
“They shoot 15 episodes over three weeks and you just mix in and out of those.
“So you have to know what’s going on with your character across all those episodes and you could be going into one of those at any time on any day.
“You finish each night at about 7.30, grab something to eat and learn your lines for the next day. Then it’s up at 6am to do it again. It’s insane.

“If you have a big storyline, then you are exhausted. I don’t think people realise how incredibly talented people like Ali King (Carla Connor) and the rest of the cast are.
“Sometimes these storylines go on for months and at the end of it you are just a blubbering wreck. There’s no downtime on a big storyline. It’s not surprising people collapse and get sent to hospital.
“The other thing about a soap is that you’re on your own. There’s no music to push along the drama to tell you the emotional state of the character, not much time to light the set and hardly any time to shoot it so you are banging it off and moving on right away. You don’t get to do it again and again.
“I’m really looking forward to this and I hope I do it justice but I know it will be very hard work.”
For John, Coronation Street is like coming home. His dad was a Scots banker but his mum was from Rochdale in Lancashire and the first TV programme he remembers watching was Coronation Street with legendary characters such as Ena Sharples, Annie Walker and Elsie Tanner.
The accents are those of his childhood cousins and aunties and uncles.
It is still the only soap he watches and he is a huge fan. When producer Phil Collinson offered him the part, he did not need a second to think about it.
A few weeks later, behind the bar of The Rovers Return, it suddenly came home to him exactly where he was.
John said: “It was a bit, ‘Oh my God, so this is actually it’.
“What is slightly intimidating is standing there pulling a pint and the person on the other side of the bar is someone like Steve McDonald or Sean Tully. They’ve all worked behind the bar and you know that used to be their space and now you’re invading it and they’re kind of looking at you thinking, ‘I wonder how he’s going to do’.”
But that does not stop John describing Corrie as “one of the friendliest sets he has ever been on”.
He added: “They are all amazing. No one talks too much about acting. It’s all very casual.
“One of the first people I met was Annie Kirkbride (Deirdre) and she didn’t come up to me and shake my hand or ask who I was. She just said, ‘Oh, hello – what’s your star sign?’ I said, ‘Scorpio’. She said, ‘Lovely, you’ll get on with him and her’. She started going on about astrology.
“It’s a bit like going into a mad, extended family with older relatives and young kids. Then there’s the parenty types and there’s uncles and aunties and they all look after each other.
“There are very few people who pull rank in the show. None of that starry nonsense goes on simply, I think, because there are so many – there are 65 adult actors and about 10 kids. Half of them do most of the work but it still means there are about 70 people.”
Karl arrived in the street with his partner Stella, played by ex-EastEnders star Michelle Collins, as the new manager of The Rovers Return.
She is an old friend of John from his days on soap Albion Market. The pair used to hang out in London and it has made it easy for them to hit it off as a couple in Corrie. Pushed to get a job by Stella, he becomes a mini-cab driver and finds mates in Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson).
John said: “Karl will turn his hand to anything so he gets a job with Street Cars.
“Those scenes are great fun because it’s the only laddie place in Coronation Street – the soap is basically about women. It’s about strong women and weak men.
“But me, Craig and Simon in the office are just having a laugh, chucking darts, messing about and talking about women and football.
“Unfortunately, a lot of these scenes get cut because, if they need to drop something, they’ll cut a scene that doesn’t really add to the story.”
With the Street’s imminent move to a new location in Salford, however, that might change.
The new set will see the actual street – currently only wide enough for one car – becoming much broader, allowing two vehicles to pass.
This could mean John and the boys being filmed just hanging out in their taxis and chatting rather than so many scenes in the mini-cab office.
John said: “But we love it in there because it’s our own lads’ hideaway – away from the madness of all those domineering women.”
My return to Africa

John credits a quick burst of Swahili with winning him a leading role in African movie To Walk With Lions.
He appeared with hellraiser Richard Harris in the film but reckons he clinched the role at the audition by speaking some Swahili he learned while living in Kenya as a boy.
He was born in Burma but his parents, Harry and Elsie, moved to Kenya when he was three and he spent nine years in Nakuru.
As a boy immersed in Kenyan culture, he picked up the language, which was to stand him in good stead when he went for the Lions interview.
The film tells the story of George Adamson, husband of Joy, who spent his last years protecting the lions and other wildlife on the Kora Reserve in Kenya.
The cast and crew all arrived on location and began filming while waiting on Harris to turn up.
John recalled: “We did as much as we could without him and some of it was quite scary.
“There was a sequence we shot in a Land Rover where I am driving. There’s a metal grille behind me and behind that the lion trainer with a long pole with a piece of meat hanging over my head and the shot is the lion trying to get me.
“This thing hadn’t been fed for a long time. There was no acting required – it was absolutely terrifying.”
On another occasion he was hit in the face by a thorn tree and the inch-long thorns had to be carefully picked out one by one.
John said: “Richard arrived a week later and I remember meeting him in the game lodge. He was covered in a turban-type thing and an all-in-one jumpsuit. Every bit of his body was covered.
“I said, ‘Aren’t you hot?’ and he said in his Irish accent, ‘I’m not letting any of those ********** b******s get me’. I said, ‘What b******s?’ and he said, ‘Mosquitoes, I hate ********** mosquitoes.
“When I mentioned the lions, he said, ‘Have you seen the ********** lions? Don’t tell anyone I am so scared of them, I am terrified.’ He was shaking.”
John added: “We started having dinner and I was going to the bar for a drink.
“He said he wasn’t allowed to drink but, as we sat at the table, he said, ‘I’ll have a couple of bottles of that’, and it was wine.
“I said, ‘I thought you didn’t drink’ and he said, ‘That’s not drinking – that’s grape juice’.”
Honor Blackman came out to play Joy Adamson, Richard’s wife.
John said: “She was quite grand, which was perfect because Joy was quite grand.
“Honor was like a throwback to the past. This frightfully British woman out in the sticks with all us peasants. She was great.”
The movie went on to a film festival at Las Vegas where a very glamorous American woman came up to John and said: “My name is Tippi Hedren and I love the film.”
John said: “I just melted. I had seen her in The Birds and she was just gorgeous.
“She told me she had a game reserve in the hills of LA and wanted me to visit.
“So I hired a car and went to where she lived. We chatted for ages. I was so in awe of this woman.”

[alan45]

We can live in hope tht some day this will be true

[sarah c]

how come Karl is frittering away the couples savings - amounting to tens of thousand pounds worth of debts? where have these 'savings' come from - they have just struggled to buy the pub??!!

why struggle if you were sat on a big pile of savings?

[Perdita]

SEXY Tina McIntyre will be accused of being a thief when money starts vanishing from the Rovers Return.

The brunette finds herself in the firing line when boss Stella Price starts a witch-hunt after someone starts pinching cash from the till.

Tina, played by Michelle Keegan, 24, becomes the prime suspect.

When Stella (Michelle Collins, 51) has no luck blaming her, she turns on Sean Tully (Antony Cotton, 36) and Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati, 45).

She tells her staff: “There’s no easy way of saying this, one of you is a thief.” She is not amused when sarcastic Tina starts to take an eternity to give punters their change. Going over the top in being careful, Tina slowly counts each coin out to her customers, telling them: “I’m told I’m a thief so you’d better watch your pockets or else I’ll be emp- tying those as well.”

But Stella is in for a shock when the thief is finally exposed as her partner Karl Munro (John Michie, 55).

His admission is part of a plot that sees him become a compulsive gambler.

When Stella finds out she grovels to her indignant staff: “I’m really, really sorry I accused you.

“You’re all good workers and I should have realised none of you would rob me.”

[Perdita]

Coronation Street's troubled gambling addict Karl Munro faces temptation this week as Sunita Alahan makes a move on him, sparking a major new storyline for the pair.

Sunita's relationship with Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) well and truly hits the rocks in the coming days, but after the mum-of-two drowns her sorrows with a huge drinking session, things go from bad to worse as she ends up being arrested for a public order offence.

When a disgusted Dev refuses to pick Sunita (Shobna Gulati) up from the police station, Karl secretly heads down there to help her out instead. However, he's in for a surprise as Sunita suddenly kisses him…

Digital Spy recently caught up with John Michie, who plays Karl, to hear about the story twist.

What's your take on Karl's attraction to Sunita?
"Well, Karl is a serial flirt - he likes a lot of women! But with Sunita, there's also a shyness about her that he's quite attracted to. Karl's not like that himself, but he finds it intriguing - and he also likes the way that Sunita dresses when she comes into the pub. She's quite sexy in a demure way.

"Sunita is very different from Karl's partner Stella, and he's going through a bit of a turbulent moment in his relationship. So Karl's way out of everything is to just look for another woman!"

Do you think it was only a matter of time before we saw Karl's womanising side?
"I think so! Karl has probably been with Stella for longer than any of his previous partners, but we reckon that's only about four or five years. So it possibly was just a matter of time, and the perfect moment has arisen because Karl's not in a stable place anyway at the moment. His gambling addiction means that he's not the Karl who first arrived at The Rovers, when everything was good in his life."

Karl comes to Sunita's rescue at the police station this week, doesn't he?
"Yes, there's a very kind side to Karl. You may not often see it, but he's actually quite caring. So when Karl sees that Dev isn't going to pick Sunita up from the police station, he's quite shocked and goes to get her. At this point, he is just genuinely helping out - he's not chasing her."

What happens next?
"Sunita is in a highly emotional state, so she comes onto Karl. It doesn't go very far before they pull away, but then Karl starts to regret the fact that it hasn't gone further! You'll see that Karl ends up feeling a bit confused, and that's really the beginning of the relationship that is coming up between him and Sunita.

"At the start, though, it's a case of Sunita and Karl getting their signals mixed up. Karl is thinking of Stella as well, so it's quite a strange and confusing situation."

Are you enjoying working with Shobna?
"Yes, she's really easy to work with and she's a lot of fun. We rehearse our lines on our own sometimes and work on the scenes together, to make sure we've got it all right. It's very quick on Corrie - you've got to turn up on the set knowing what you're doing. So we get on really well and we're really enjoying working together."

Why have things started to go wrong for Karl and Stella's relationship?
"The main problem between them is that Karl is hiding his gambling, so he's basically living a lie and that's causing stresses and strains to come out in his relationship. Stella doesn't know that Karl has a problem, so she can't understand why Karl is behaving the way he is.

"I've researched gambling addictions with help from Coronation Street and support from Gamblers Anonymous. I've learned that it's an incredibly afflicting addiction - it really does change your whole life around. Just because you're not taking a substance like alcohol or drugs, it doesn't mean to say that your whole personality isn't going to change rapidly. Karl is going downhill as a person, so that's the reason why he and Stella are not getting on."

Karl also steals from the till at The Rovers this week, doesn't he?
"Yes, his problem is spiralling out of control now. But Karl justifies it to himself, thinking that he's just borrowing the money. Karl is a big-time, big-hit gambler now, and he almost thinks that he has some sort of supernatural power to win.

"From Karl's point of view, if he takes money from the till, that's not stealing - he genuinely believes that he's going to put it back and win even more. He thinks Stella will be really pleased with that, as it'll help to pay the mortgage off on the pub. So in his twisted mind, he's helping her!

"It's an unbelievable addiction, and just because you might not see Karl going down to the casino or down to the bookies in every episode, it doesn't mean to say that he isn't doing it! He's actually going all the time, and you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg."

Do you find it easy to sympathise with your character, even though he's making so many mistakes?
"In a way, I think you have to sympathise with any character that you play. I've found that in the past, even when I've played characters who are darker and more dangerous. There's always a side to them or something in them that you can sympathise with, in order to make the character believable.

"I can sympathise with the fact that Karl is an addict. It's as simple as that - he has an addiction. People who are addicts need help, and they also have to help themselves. But sure enough, they tend to only help themselves when they reach rock bottom! So I have a sympathy with the fact that Karl is diving deeper and deeper to the bottom - he almost has no control over it."

You've been on our screens since last summer. Do you feel like you've settled in well at Corrie?
"Yes, I'm really enjoying it. It's great fun here and it's like a big family. It's also nice now to have a bit of a meatier story to get my teeth into. It's a funny thing, but when I first came onto this show, I felt at home straight away - I really did."

How has Corrie compared to your previous work?
"I suppose what's different is that there's 65 actors in this - that's a huge amount of actors all potentially playing leading storylines at some point or another. It's great that there's always loads of people in the green room every day.

"Corrie's very vibrant, very lively, and very funny - everyone has a laugh. We don't take the business seriously, but we do take the work seriously. There's an irreverent and hardworking atmosphere here, and that suits my personality down to the ground."

[Perdita]

Michelle Collins has predicted that her Corrie character Stella Price will stay with wayward husband Karl.

Next Friday, Rovers Return landlady Stella discovers Karl's gambling habit and the extent of their financial woes after he stages a break-in at the Coronation Street pub.

The Price matriarch then kicks Karl out of the pub in public view, calling him a "pathetic, lying scumbag", according to Collins.

Speaking to Soaplife, the actress argued that Karl is Stella's "weakness".

"I'm not sure that she can [leave Karl]. She seems strong on the outside, but Karl is her weakness," Collins admitted. "I think she loves him more than she actually knows herself. Like a lot of strong women, there is always someone in the background and they're often very different to their partner."

Karl Munro (John Michie) started an affair with Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati) last week.

[Perdita]

Coronation Street star Michelle Collins has said she thinks Stella Price loves her pub more than her boyfriend Karl Munro.
Stella and gambling addict Karl, played by John Michie, have been having problems recently and he is about to begin an affair with married woman Sunita.
Michelle told Inside Soap magazine: "I'm not sure how Stella will react if she finds out just what Karl has been up to with Sunita lately.
"But after all his recent antics, I reckon that if Stella had to choose between keeping Karl and the Rovers, the pub would win hands down!"
But the soap actress also revealed she thinks Stella would forgive Karl eventually, because deep down she needs him.
Michelle said: "I think Stella loves Karl more than she actually knows herself.
"She's like a lot of strong women who have a weaker person who's almost in their shadow.
"You don't often get very feisty people together in a relationship, because that doesn't work.
"Karl and Stella compliment each other - they're such different people and personalities."

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Speaking to Soaplife, the actress argued that Karl is Stella's "weakness".
She seems strong on the outside, but Karl is her weakness," Collins admitted. "I think she loves him more than she actually knows herself. L.

Coronation Street star Michelle Collins has said she thinks Stella Price loves her pub more than her boyfriend Karl Munro.
, I reckon that if Stella had to choose between keeping Karl and the Rovers, the pub would win hands down!"

Michelle told Inside Soap magazine: "I think Stella loves Karl more than she actually knows herself.

Confused woman

[Perdita]

Coronation Street star John Michie has predicted that his character Karl Munro will save his troubled relationship with Stella Price.

Karl is kicked out by Stella later this week after she discovers that his gambling problem has left them in serious debt, putting their future at The Rovers in jeopardy.

However, Michie told itv.com that Karl is clever enough to reclaim his feisty partner's affections.

Michie commented: "I don't think this is the end of Karl and Stella just yet. Karl might seem stupid, but he's not - he's a real operator. So he's not going to let Stella out of his life that easily.

"He'll find a way to get back, and he'll find a way to keep Sunita dangling on a string."

Sparks have been flying between Karl and Sunita (Shobna Gulati) in recent weeks, as they have comforted each other over their respective relationship problems.

"He has taken a shine to Sunita, mainly because he reckons she listens to him and Stella doesn't," Michie remarked. "Karl is a bit of a user, so if there's someone around that he can use for whatever purposes, he's inclined to get down that road."

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays on ITV1.