Coronation Street stars to do charity night walk

Coronation Street stars to do charity night walk
Coronation Street stars to do charity night walk (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Stars from Coronation Street past and present are set to leave the cobbles behind to take part in a night-time walk for charity. Michelle Keegan, who plays Tina McIntyre, and Brooke Vincent - aka Sophie Webster - are among those who are involved in the Cancer Research UK's Shine Event in Manchester on May 1. Also taking part are former Corrie actresses Lucy-Jo Hudson and Kirsty Leigh Porter - who now stars in Emmerdale. Shine is a night-time walking event in which participants can complete either a half or full marathon and choose to fund the area of cancer research which is closest to their hearts. The actresses are taking part of the walk as part of Team Vital, which is honouring the memory of former Corrie producer and writer Gavin Blyth who died of cancer last November. "Having recently lost someone very close to me to cancer I wanted to do the Shine half marathon walk in their honour and for Gavin, who was working on Coronation Street when I first joined the show," Michelle said. Lucy-Jo added, "Gavin was a dear friend of both mine and my husband Alan, so I want to do the Shine walk in his honour. He was a truly talented man and was taken so quickly. So if I can help raise money to try and stop this happening to anyone else, then I will. "I also lost my gran to cancer a couple of years ago and she will always be in my heart so I'm doing it for her too."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.