Here is the first official picture of former Eastenders star Michelle Collins and her new soap family on the famous Coronation Street cobbles!
It’s not long to go now until former Eastenders actress Michelle Collins makes her debut on the cobbles of Coronation Street as Stella, who Steve has employed to manage the Rovers Return after a series of bust-ups with wife Becky leave the pub’s future in jeopardy.
On the 16th of June Stella will pull her first pint and meet the residents of Weatherfield and the following day she will be joined by her boyfriend Karl, played by Taggart actor John Michie and her daughter Eva played by Catherine Tyldesley.
The actress, famed as Eastender's Cindy Beale, recalled how her scenes behind the bar took her back to her early days as a little-known actress.
"I hadn't pulled a pint for a long long time but at one point years and years ago I did work in a pub when I was a struggling young actress. I think it's a bit like riding a bike."
As for the first pint she pulled on set at the Rovers, Collins said: "It's a bit surreal now actually but I think it was a pretty good pint."
Collins also admitted that perfecting a northern accent to play Stella has been a struggle - and she is bracing herself for criticism.
"I know there will be people going, 'Oh that's awful, that's not right' - but, you know, you can't pin everybody down to one place, that's what Corrie's about - everyone's from very different places."
"I have had a dialect coach and we've gone with one style and that's what we're going to stick to. It's hard doing an accent but you've got to not let that get in the way."
Coronation Street executive producer Kieran Roberts said: "I am thrilled to be welcoming John, Michelle and Catherine to the cast of Coronation Street. "
"Of course Michelle's soap credentials are superb and in the same way she made Cindy Beale one of Eastenders' most memorable bitches, I am certain she is going to be fantastic as the warm, funny, steely, flawed and larger than life northern matriarch Stella. Karl and Stella's fiery marriage is sure to keep viewers hooked through 2011 and beyond."
