SURPRISE connection between Kayla's mum and Emmerdale!

Kayla's mum in Coronation Street will be familiar to soap fans
(Image credit: Andrew Boyce)

Emmerdale fans have seen Kayla's mum before...

There was a strange case of colliding soaps in tonight’s Coronation Street, when Kayla’s mum, Marsha, arrived on the cobbles. Eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted that Marsha was played by actress Joanne Mitchell – who previously starred in Emmerdale as Sandra Flaherty; the troubled mother of young Liv. Which means that Corrie’s Kayla and Emmerdale’s Liv are sisters! Well, sort of...

Joanne Mitchell, who is the real life wife of actor Dominic Brunt - better known as Dales vet Paddy Kirk – was last in Emmerdale in 2016, when she was involved in the sexual abuse storyline in which Aaron’s father, Gordon – Sandra’s ex – was convicted of raping his son.

Kayla's mum actress Joanne Mitchell played Sandra Flaherty in Emmerdale

Kayla's mum actress Joanne Mitchell played Sandra Flaherty in Emmerdale

As Kayla’s mum, Marsha Clifton, she pitched up at Speed Daal to question why her daughter had put off going to University, and was stunned to realise that Kayla had befriended Craig Tinker, who memorably helped to put corrupt cop, Neil Clifton – Marsha’s husband and Kayla’s father – behind bars for raping Bethany.

Joanne isn’t the only star to have recently jumped from one soap to another. Actor Daniel Casey popped up in Emmerdale a few weeks ago as the “fake” Uncle of Gerry Roberts, mere months after playing Michelle Fowler’s stalker, Tom Bailey, in EastEnders.

And, of course, plenty of famous faces have done the same in the past. Michelle Collins memorably played Corrie’s Stella Price, having previously played EastEnders super bitch Cindy Beale, while Gemma Atkinson was Lisa Hunter in Hollyoaks and Carly Hope in Emmerdale, and former Corrie star Adam Rickitt, who played Nick Tilsley, is now a regular on Hollyoaks as MS sufferer Kyle Kelly.

Emmerdale pic: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Alison Slade
Soaps Editor
Alison Slade has over 20 years of experience as a TV journalist and has spent the vast majority of that time as Soap Editor of TV Times magazine.  She is passionate about the ability of soaps to change the world by presenting important, issue-based stories about real people in a relatable way. There are few soap actors that she hasn’t interviewed over the years, and her expertise in the genre means she has been called upon as a judge numerous times for The British Soap Awards and the BAFTA TV Awards.

When she is not writing about soaps, watching soaps, or interviewing people who are in soaps, she loves going to the theatre, taking a long walk or pottering about at home, obsessing over Farrow and Ball paint.