Cath Tyldesley on swapping the Street for Scarborough & Strictly

It's a big week for Cath Tyldesley, who played Eva Price on Coronation Street. Not only is she starring in the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, which starts on Saturday 7 September, but she'll be appearing in the new BBC sitcom Scarborough, which starts on Friday 6 September too.

In an interview with the Sun's Fabulous magazine, the interview says this about Cath leaving Coronation Street:

"If rumours are to be believed, Cath left Corrie last August amid unrest among the cast, unhappy with the exhausting filming schedule under new producer Iain MacLeod. She is one of many big names to have handed in their notice (Kym Marsh, Lucy Fallon and Faye Brookes, among others, are also saying ta-ra, chuck) and the mass exodus is said to be a sign of the troubles. Cath claims this isn’t true, and says the constant speculation is causing some irritation.

“Honestly, I feel frustrated for them because I’m in touch with everyone and I think they’re all a bit upset about it. It’s a brilliant place to work – Iain is doing a great job, but these rumours keep popping up. I had lunch with Jane Danson [Leanne Battersby] the other day and I asked her if everything was cool, and she was like: ‘Yes, it’s as great as it has always been!’ It’s just a pure coincidence that everyone is leaving at the same time. It was my second home for seven years and I have nothing but good things to say about it.”

Would she ever go back?

“I’d love to at some point. I do get a little pang now and again. But it was the right thing to do for my family. I’m often able to do the school run now, which is lovely because of the age Alfie is. That’s one of the reasons I turned a lot of things down last year. He was starting pre-school and I thought I don’t want to look back and feel I missed that section of his life."

She says it was former Corrie producer Kate Oates, now at EastEnders, who gave her the confidence to spread her wings away from Weatherfield.

“Kate really fuelled my desire to try other things, and I wanted to do a gritty drama. Amazingly, 15 Days came up and it was brilliantly written and so well- received. But after that I called my agent and was like: ‘I need to do a comedy,’ and then Scarborough came in literally a week later.

“I really feel like comedy is where my roots are. It feels nice to be laughing instead of crying. And when I read the script for Scarborough, I fell in love with all of the characters because it’s so warm and genuine. It’s been an absolute joy, one of my favourite jobs ever, hands down. No one wanted it to finish.”

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Glenda Young

Author of historical novels with Headline

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