Coronation Street's pregnant pause

There's a wonderful interview with Corrie's publicity manager, Alison Sinclair, in Inside Soap magazine in which she explains how Coronation Street manages when so many of their cast are off on maternity leave. Before we get into the interview, let's just recap on who's off, who's coming back and who's pretending to be pregnant.

Off on maternity leave but coming back soon is Julia Haworth (Claire Peacock). Alison King (Carla Connor) has just gone off on maternity leave and will be back after the baby is born. Did you know that Alison's fella Adam Huckett is a Corrie sound technician?

Due to go off on maternity leave soon are Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby), Wanda Opalinksa (Wiki Dankowska) and Kym Marsh (Michelle Connor).

On paternity leave soon will be Jack P Shepherd (David Platt) whose girlfriend Lauren Shippey is expecting their first child in February.

Those who have recently had babies include the wife of Andrew Whyment (Kirk Sutherland) and Tina O'Brien (Sarah Platt).

And pretending to be pregnant is Samia Smith playing a heavily pregnant, demented Maria Connor with a cushion up her shirt.

Anyway, Corrie's publicist admits that's it been tricky covering up so many baby bumps on screen. "We use every trick in the book, from looser clothing to lots of scenes with the character sitting down witha cushion over their tummy or behind a desk. Sally Whittaker (Sally Webster) spend almost the entirety of one of her pregnancies behind the Kabin counter. And when Jane (Leanne Battersby) was expecting her first baby, we had a special box made for her to carry about in Underworld so that her bump would be inside the box and hidden with lingerie!"