Sunday 12 July 2015

Bring back Joanna Lumley to Coronation Street

Actress and national treasure Joanna Lumley once appeared on Coronation Street as Elaine Perkins, Ken Barlow's girlfriend. This was back in 1973.

Joanna was interviewed on BBC's The One Show last week. She was there to promote her travel show which starts this week. It's called Joanna Lumley's Trans-Siberian Adventure and it begins tonight, Sunday 12th July, at 9pm on ITV.

Anyway, while she was being interviewed on The One Show, Joanna Lovely Lumley talked about her time on Coronation Street.  She was asked about the saddest job she's ever had to leave - and she said it was leaving Corrie.
"I had to leave Coronation Street," she said. "Ken Barlow asked me to marry him and I wanted to 'cos I was very, very poor at the time and I had no work. And I was in Coronation Street for eight episodes and I said 'Can't I say "yes, I'll marry him' and they said 'No, you've got to say "no".'  So after eight episodes, I left and my heart was broken."

Joanna admitted that if she had stayed on Coronation Street she wouldn't have had the acting career she would have had but, she said: "I might have still been on Corrie. I might have just loved it."

When Stephanie Beacham was cast in the role of Ken's girlfriend Martha Fraser (the actress lady who lived on the barge), Joanna Lumley hinted at the time that she nearly returned to Coronation Street to play that role, but was too busy at the time. 

I'm not suggesting Ken gets another girlfriend just yet, by the way. It's far too early days for that kind of talk. Ken needs time and space to mourn the passing of Deirdre... as do we all.

Glenda Young

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10 comments:

  1. Lorna12 July 2015 at 15:15

    LOVE her.

    Would love to see her play Carla Connor's no nonsense aunt who tells everyone they are sisters.

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  2. Humpty Dumpty12 July 2015 at 16:05

    Not really. Ken needs a friend but not one played by an actress who can offer very little time if any. I'm hoping that Ken eventually chucks Tracy out. (In a possible scenario, she will have inherited quite a bit from Deirdre's secret savings account - but that's for another blog post.) He now has a chance to offer a room to Brian/Michael/another male which could conjure up a whole new set of stories.

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  3. Anonymous12 July 2015 at 16:47

    Seems clear to me that they are building Audrey to be Ken's next.

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  4. Anonymous12 July 2015 at 17:18

    No thanks.

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  5. Anonymous12 July 2015 at 19:38

    Anyone else think Ken was punching well above his weight there?

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  6. Anonymous12 July 2015 at 20:01

    Joanne would not have lasted in a marriage with Ken. She would have been bored within a week and ran off to karate with John Steed or sail down the Nile. ( "I am not boring." You keep shouting that to yourself Ken.)

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  7. Sevin13 July 2015 at 05:10

    Does anyone know if she had accepted the part in 2009 if she would have been the same character from rhe 70s?

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  8. Anonymous13 July 2015 at 08:54

    George - yes, Martha on the barge was supposed to have been Joanna's original character.

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  9. C in Canada13 July 2015 at 13:25

    My first thought was that she looks so like Carla Connor.

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  10. kib6 August 2017 at 14:25

    Would LOVE to see Joanna Lumley reprise her role even if as a short term storyline.

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