Thursday, 30 July 2015

Sarah Harding won't be returning to Corrie

Sarah Harding, who appeared as Joni Preston on Coronation Street last week, will not be returning to the show, says The Sun today.

Mr Curry Sauce told The Sun: “It’s safe to say Sarah’s Corrie career hasn’t gone as planned. Fans and critics have been pretty unimpressed with her acting. It doesn’t reflect well on Corrie, who have been accused of chasing ratings with gimmicks. They will not be getting her back and the general consensus on set is that this was a failed experiment.”

However, although she was only signed up for four episodes it was later reported that Sarah Harding apparently "wowed show bosses".  And she said she's been asked back to film more episodes later this year.  So perhaps this is the return that's been axed?

A Coronation Street spokesperson confirmed to The Sun: "Sarah was cast for four episodes in a cameo role for a specific storyline. There are no immediate plans for the character of Joni to return.”

Sarah also admitted that she was never auditioned for her role on the show.  "The producers YouTubed me."

I have one word in response to this news item: Phew.

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20 comments:

  1. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 11:44

    Thank the lord for that! Lets hope it was by mutual decision. Good luck to Sarah finding more roles and good luck to corrie for hopefully learning a much needed lesson from this little experiment. Lets hope Shane is not part 2 of it! - Micky

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  2. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 11:52

    Yeah, but we've still got the fourth episode to go next week. Still, I'm pleased to hear that reason has prevailed.

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  3. Humpty Dumpty30 July 2015 at 12:23

    I feel sorry for Sarah. The producers made a big deal out of her arrival and then they drop her. Hope she can deal with it. After all, it wasn't her fault that she got hired without an audition.

    There's too many of these 'suck it and see' characters. I think that's why Cathy is such an enigma. The writers don't know whether viewers will take to her so they're keeping their options open. Counter-productive.

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  4. Tvor30 July 2015 at 12:27

    There probably never were more than four episodes and never any plans for her to come back. She may just have a good publicity firm but the media has been going nuts over this casting so probably they've just been playing it up to fill space in a slow news month. Love her or hate her, people have been talking about her and I suppose that was the point.

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  5. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 12:30

    finally - TPTB actually listened to the viewers - maybe we can all bring about some other much needed changes. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Stephen30 July 2015 at 13:35

    I agree with Anonymous, above. Can we influence TPTB to also axe Callum, Bethany and Sarah? Away with them!

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  7. Pippa Dee30 July 2015 at 13:43

    Oh Stephen, I wish!!!

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  8. Belle Fleur30 July 2015 at 13:56

    I have to second 'Phew'. I do feel a bit sorry for Sarah as actress she aint but her performance bordered on embarrassing. I hope this brings home to the zelebrity obsessed production team, that we need proper "actors" not boy or girl band members or people that appeared in X factor in our favourite soap! Lets hope that Shane Ward does not go the same way.

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  9. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 14:18

    I feel a bit nervous now for Shane. If he's good he may still face the backlash of all this as once the media get onto the 'corrie in crisis' thing they do every few years there are always victims and we're surely due a bout of that soon.- Micky

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  10. Dolly Tubb30 July 2015 at 15:21

    I'm sorry for Sarah but it was the same with Michelle Collins, the big 'Ta Dah!' fan fare with bells and whistles and then it all falls flat. Should never have happened.

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  11. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 15:34

    Oh, she wasn't that bad given the crap storyline she was cast in. Also, anybody else who would have slapped Tracy Barlow in the face would've been sporting two black eyes, but they had her just stand there, hand against her cheek, looking hurt and dismayed. What absolute nonsense. The redemption of Tracy Barlow is ramping up to a Christmas blow out I suppose. The old leopard/spot thing comes to mind.

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  12. Alison30 July 2015 at 15:40

    So everyone from the press to fans were unimpressed by her performance but the Corrie bosses were wowed?? Sort of sums up Corrie right now. The top dogs completed disconnected. At least it seems they may have listened but still.

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  13. Tvor30 July 2015 at 16:14

    I don't think they actually were wowed. I think it was all publicity made up. IT was a 4 episode cameo, full stop.

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  14. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 16:42

    Wasn't it Sarah herself who said that they had given her more episodes to film after she had released her album?

    http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/584894/Sarah-Harding-Coronation-Street-second-deal-wowing-soap-bosses?_ga=1.9417714.695285100.1437736429

    I'm not sure how we can know for sure that this wasn't an about face on the part of TPTB.

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  15. Anonymous30 July 2015 at 21:10

    Rossie, I agree with you.

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  16. vintgal00330 July 2015 at 23:32

    I had never heard of this girl before she appeared on the cobbles...BUT....I really feel sorry for her and the way she has been trashed!! Unfortunately things did not work out and she is now out....done deal.....let the poor girl leave with her dignity....

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  17. Sevin31 July 2015 at 00:49

    I am so glad she's gone not just for the terrible performance but also for the fact that with characters like this there is a tendency to blame the producers for chasing the under 30's crowd of viewers.

    So the under 30's viewers get labelled as the reason for the casting. Including me. A 25 year old that never heard of Sarah Harding before.

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  18. Vicky31 July 2015 at 00:58

    We haven't seen her scenes yet here in Australia, I can't wait to see how bad she is LOL

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  19. Rory1 August 2015 at 14:18

    Hooray!

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