Three more axed from Coronation Street

Three more axed from Coronation Street
Three more axed from Coronation Street

Three more Coronation Street characters are to leave the show in the coming weeks, it has been reported. Norris Cole's love interest Mary Taylor (pictured), downtrodden Paula Carp and barmaid Poppy Morales will apparently leave the ITV1 soap within weeks because bosses say the characters have made little impact. All three have only been with the show for around six months. A source told The Sun: "It's a real shame they're leaving but their characters haven't made a huge impact and we haven't got any more big storylines for them. We just can't afford to keep them on. "We can't be sentimental and we felt their characters had run their course. Paula - played by Sharon Duce - was brought in for a shock storyline when she revealed that she slept with the dad of her pal Eileen Grimshaw and that he fathered her daughter Julie. But while Corrie bosses have apparently told Sharon that her contract will not be renewed, there's a chance that the character of Paula could return in the future. Mary (Patti Clare) has failed to win over viewers with her slow-burning affair with Norris (Malcolm Hebden), and Poppy (Sophiya Haque) has not been able to liven up the Rovers Return. The trio - who will leave in separate storylines - follow Ayesha Dharker (who plays Tara Mandal), Philip McGinley (Tom Kerrigan) and Edward de Souza (Colin Grimshaw), who were all axed from the soap last month. A Coronation Street spokeswoman refused to comment on the reports. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's new weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop Get all the latest soap gossip delivered straight to your door. Subscribe to Soaplife magazine today

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.