Helen Flanagan 'no fan of reality TV'

Helen Flanagan 'no fan of reality TV'
Helen Flanagan 'no fan of reality TV' (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan has revealed that she would never want to appear in a celebrity reality show such as Big Brother or I'm A Celebrity. The actress - who plays Rosie Webster in the soap - is set to dump boyfriend Jason Grimshaw and leave Weatherfield to become a contestant in a reality show - but Helen has said she has no desire to follow in her alter ego's footsteps. "I couldn't do a programme where you're being watched 24/7 like Big Brother or I'm A Celebrity," she told Inside Soap magazine. "I would like to learn a new skill, so Strictly Come Dancing would be good - but I can't dance at all, so it's very unlikely I'd do that! "Oh, and there's no way I could be in Dancing On Ice. It would be far too terrifying!" The 21-year-old - who has appeared in Corrie since she was nine - added that she was leaving to free herself of the character. "Now I just want to be Helen," she admitted. "It's time for me to be myself." And in an interview with the Sunday Mirror she elaborated on her reasons for leaving. "I always to myself that I was going to leave when I turned 21," Helen said. "For me the show represents my childhood and I couldn't properly become an adult if I hadn't left. It finally feels as if I've left my childhood behind." "People keep asking me what I'm going to do next, but I just want to be me and live for the moment for a while," she added. "I've been on Corrie since I was 10. It hasn't just been my job, it's been my whole life."

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.