Michelle Keegan has shared the reaction one of her Coronation Street co-stars had when she told them she was quitting the soap.
The TV favourite, 36, shot to fame playing Tina McIntyre on the long-running ITV show back in 2008. As the feisty barmaid, Michelle became a hit with viewers and played a part in several big storylines as Tina.
But in 2014, and after half-a-decade on the famous cobbles, Tina was killed off when she was pushed off a balcony. Despite managing to survive, she was beaten to death with a metal pole by Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis).
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Since her exit, Michelle has kept herself busy – bagging roles in the likes of BBC smash hit Our Girl and Sky comedy series Brassic. She’s also the lead in the new Netflix thriller Fool Me Once, which dropped on Monday (January 1).
Confirming she was quitting Coronation Street, Michelle at the time said it was “such a difficult decision to leave.” The Northern beauty added: “But I felt it was the right time for me to make the next step in my career.”
And it turns out one of her Corrie co-stars had a somewhat harsh response to her leaving. Speaking to The Observer, Michelle gushed about her time on the soap.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“It was the best job, the best people. It was a really hard decision to go. I could have stayed there my whole life,” she revealed.
Michelle then recalled how her co-star, and a soap legend, had a rather brutal, albeit supportive, response to the news. She said: “Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley [Cropper], was leaving around the same time.
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“And she said, ‘Killing off Tina is the best thing that could have happened to you. Because it’ll make you fight harder and make you work harder, and focus you.’ And she was right,” Michelle added.
Fans will recall Julie played icon Hayley from 1998 to 2014. The character was killed off when she took her own life, after living with terminal pancreatic cancer.
Similarly to Michelle, Julie had also gone on to have an impressive career. In 2016 she appeared in the BBC’s award-winning Happy Valley, and this week, she starred in ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
