Barbara Knox has sleepless nights if she forgets a line on ‘Coronation Street’, fearing she will be sacked.
That’s according to her co-star Sally Ann Matthews (Jenny Bradley), who says the cobbles legend – who has portrayed Rita Tanner on and off since 1964 – is "terrible" for worrying that she might be axed, and "every year" the soap stalwart thinks she could be let go.
She said: "Every year she thinks she isn’t going to get another contract.
"And if she ever forgets a line, which is rare, she won’t sleep that night. She is terrible."
But Sally says she tells her co-star off for having such thoughts.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, she added: "I’m like, ‘Seriously, Barbara?’ I tell her off all the time."
But one character who is set to be killed off is Rita’s husband Dennis, to mark the soap’s 10,000th episode.
Rita will be left stunned when she receives her late hubby’s ashes in a parcel, which contains a note asking her to scatter them in Blackpool.
She asks Ken Barlow (Bill Roache) to go with her, and several other Weatherfield residents end up accompanying her on a coach trip.
Jenny is to book a coach for the excursion, and the vehicle will be driven by grumpy Des, played by ‘Early Doors’ actor John Henshaw.
‘Coronation Street’ boss Iain MacLeod said: "10,000 episodes! Not bad for a programme which one newspaper said in 1960 was ‘doomed from the outset’.
"I am first and foremost a massive fan of the show and I watched this landmark episode with absolute glee.
"It is uniquely ‘Corrie’: funny, poignant and characterful – and a glorious homage to the comedic charabanc trips of times past, packed with strong female characters and sparkling dialogue.
"It’s a really great exhibition of Coronation Street’s classic qualities as we start a new decade on the cobbles."
Barbara Knox ‘fears she will be fired from Coronation Street’
