Jane Hazlegrove has returned to ‘Coronation Street’ – 34 years after she was last on the ITV soap.
The 50-year-old star has joined the show as Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) and Paul Foreman’s (Peter Ash) mum Bernie, who will appear on the cobbles in July.
Jane – who played Kathleen ‘Dixie’ Dixon in ‘Casualty’ from 2006 to 2016 – said: "I’m thrilled to be joining ‘Coronation Street’.
"It’s where I started my apprenticeship as a very young actor. I can’t wait to get stuck in."
A ‘Coronation Street’ spokesperson said: "Like mother, like daughter. We are very pleased that the fantastic Jane Hazlegrove has agreed to join the cast as the irrepressible and impossible Gemma’s even more irrepressible and impossible mother. Fur will fly."
Bernie is described as "an old raver who still sees herself as a free spirit", and she will "ruffle feathers" when she turns up further down the line in her daughter’s pregnancy.
Gemma is pleased by her mum’s Weatherfield arrival, but Paul is more suspicious of her motives.
Jane initially starred as cheeky teen Sue Clayton – the daughter of milkman Harry Clayton (Johnny Leeze) and sister of Andrea Clayton (Caroline O’Neill) – on the cobbles in 1985, making 27 appearances on the show.
Sue is believed to have last been mentioned in 1986 when Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) said she was still living in Weatherfield.
Jane previously admitted she left ‘Casualty’ because she missed theatre work.
Speaking in 2016, she said: "I miss the people, but it’s an all-consuming job. You work Monday to Friday and playing a paramedic means you are out on the road somewhere in Wales and it’s teeming down. It’s relentless.
"I loved it and I met the most incredible people and I learnt a lot about television acting and myself but it was time to go.
"The impetus to leave was because I missed theatre. I wanted to see if those muscles still worked.
"I was a little apprehensive in rehearsals, but the company is amazing, it’s been so accommodating. I had to jump in and commit myself and they gave me the room to do that."
Gemma Winter’s mum joins Coronation Street
