Maureen Lipman’s suggestion for her new ‘Coronation Street’ character to be the sister of her other cobbles alter-ego was rejected.
The 72-year-old actress returned to Weatherfield on Wednesday night (12.09.18) as Tyrone Dobbs’ (Alan Halsall) grandmother Evelyn Plummer, 16 years after she portrayed landlady Lillian Spencer, but her request for her new character to be Lillian’s sibling "who had fallen on hard times" was politely declined.
She said: "I have to be careful what I say because there’s a code – you don’t talk and you run everything past [the producers] before you say anything.
"And I haven’t been on it long enough to have any complaints! But I don’t know the rules yet."
Maureen has signed up to appear on the cobbles for a year with a view to a potential extension if she "behaves and doesn’t talk out of school".
The ‘Educating Rita’ star admits her casting as Evelyn was a lot quicker than last time out, but her character is going to be seen as a "throwback" because she "didn’t have much time" to think about what her alter-ego could wear.
She added to Radio Times magazine: "I had time to think about how Lillian would look and sound. But this time with Evelyn, I was just thrown into it.
"And I think I’m going to come over as a throwback. Because today’s grandmothers are in FitFlops and lycra and they’ve got hair the colour of a soft peach.
"This woman is stuck in a bit of a time warp because I didn’t have much time to think about what I was going to do."
Last week, the veteran actress admitted she tries not to think too much about how her character appears on screen because she would just get "depressed".
She said: "She is a genuine battleaxe without a man to battle – except maybe picking fights with Dev and putting Tyrone in his place regularly.
"She is stuck in the past – her clothes are of someone who is always after a bargain, she has put her hair into victory rolls.
"She is not batty and flyaway, she’s carefully dressed but I try not to think about what she looks like as I would just get depressed.
"I don’t watch, I will maybe watch things later on, long after they have been on but I really don’t enjoy watching myself. I can see me thinking, I get impatient with myself, I think a lot of actors feel that way, it is hard to be objective. I don’t read reviews and I am not on social media I just get on with the job."
Maureen Lipman’s Coronation Street suggestion was declined
