Helen Worth has returned to the ‘Coronation Street’ set.
The 69-year-old actress – who has played Gail Platt on the cobbles since 1974 – is one of a number of older cast members finally getting to go back to work after the coronavirus pandemic halted filming earlier this year.
Julia Goulding (Shona Ramsey) told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It’s funny, Helen Worth was in the other day and she kept calling herself the new girl, because it was her first day back.
"I said, ‘Oh please, Helen!’ I think everyone’s just getting used to it, as and when they’re back in."
Government guidelines meant older stars didn’t return to the cobbles with the rest of the cast, but now it’s thought the likes of Bill Roache (Ken Barlow) are set for a comeback.
Meanwhile, Julia has also opened up about her own ‘Corrie’ plot, after her character Shona was shot on Christmas Day (25.12.19) and left with severe memory loss.
Now, Shona doesn’t remember her family – including fiance David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) – and the actress has loved the chance to take a "completely different" route with her character.
She said: "It’s been really fun. Obviously it’s very rare for an actor to be able to play a completely different character in a long-running soap, and it’s been fabulous.
"At first, it was really difficult; obviously we did lots of research about the specifics of Shona’s brain injury."
Julia admitted the cast have had "some fun with it" on set despite the serious situation, but there have also been some challenges as a performer.
She explained: "It’s really strange actually, because it’s so hard not to slip back into old ways with characters that I’ve known from before, even when discussing it when we’re on the floor with the director, and having to keep reminding myself that I don’t know the history of Sarah and Gary, for example.
"I don’t know the history of Gail and David’s relationship. So to not work based on my knowledge of that has been refreshing, but it’s also been quite hard, because I’ve had to keep reminding myself of it.
"But in terms of playing her, the writing kind of speaks for itself. It just comes off the page at me, and it’s been dead easy in that sense."