Tina O’Brien is "gutted" Paula Lane is leaving ‘Coronation Street’.
The 32-year-old actress – who portrays emotional mother Sarah Platt in the long-running soap – was devastated when she learnt her co-star, who plays her on-screen sister-in-law Kylie Platt, had decided to turn her back on the ITV show in order to try other things after she’s given birth to her second child in three months’ time.
She explained: "I am so gutted that Paula is going. I adore working with her. I think, for her, leaving is the right thing to do. She’s ready to go and I totally understand that.
"I know she will do great after ‘Corrie’ – but for me personally, it’s like, ‘Noooo!’ "
Tina – who first joined the soap in 1999 – bowed out of the programme in 2007 before making a shock return last year and she has admitted she couldn’t believe how quickly she settled back in after over half a decade away from set.
She said: "The first scene in the Platt house was so odd because of how normal it felt. I hadn’t been there for seven years, yet it felt like yesterday."
And, although she’s enjoying her time on the show, the blonde beauty – who has daughter Scarlett eight, from her relationship with Ryan Thomas, and six-month-old son Beau with her husband Adam Croft – believes her priorities have changed now she’s a little older.
She added to Inside Soap magazine: "I’m coming at it from a different angle now. I have a family and my priorities have changed. When I left I was 24, with no kids or responsibilities. Now I’m 32 with two kids. It means more juggling."
Tina O’Brien’s ‘gutted’ Paula Lane is leaving Coronation Street
