Stephanie Cole rules out a return to Coronation Street

Stephanie Cole has confirmed she will not be returning to Coronation Street.

The actress left the cobbles last summer after two years playing Roy Cropper's mother Sylvia Goodwin and told ITV's Daybreak she doesn't like playing the same character for too long.

Asked whether viewers have seen the last of Sylvia, Stephanie replied: "Yes, we have. I'm terrible, you see. I'm a little bit like a fly - I like to flit hither and thither! Well, let's say a butterfly - that's rather nice, isn't it?

"I don't like being away from theatre too long, I don't like being away from telly too long. I adored my time on Corrie - great, wonderful actors, great crews and great scripts. And also, of course, Robert Vaughn as my love interest - it can't be bad, can it?"

Stephanie has since been cast in This May Hurt A Bit, a play about the NHS which will tour the UK from March 6 and June 21.

Meanwhile, Peter Armitage said he would love to reprise his role as Bill Webster after beating cancer.

The 74-year-old actor has played Kevin Webster's dad Bill for 30 years and was last seen in the ITV soap in 2011 at granddaughter Sophie's ill-fated wedding to girlfriend Sian Powers, shortly after his character had suffered a heart attack.

Peter told the Daily Mirror how he was diagnosed with bowel cancer last summer, but after surgery to remove the tumour and a course of radiotherapy, doctors have declared him in remission.

The actor revealed: "The only time I've cried was when they told me the cancer hadn't spread. It was a relief, really, and also the enormity of what I'd been through had started to sink in.

"I'm in remission and will have check-ups every six months for the next five years."

Last summer, Coronation Street viewers learned Bill Webster had suffered a heart attack and son Kevin went to visit him in Germany. The storyline was created as a means of writing out Michael Le Vell, who plays Kevin, during his trial for child sex offences.

Michael has now been cleared and Kevin is set to return to the street.

Peter said: "It's 30 years since I first started on the cobbles and I've always come in and out. Now Michael Le Vell has been cleared, Kevin is due back on the cobbles in the spring and they've said Bill is fine.

"I'd like to go back again, too, if there's a storyline for me."

 

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.