Katherine Kelly has thanked Bradley Walsh for giving her the "confidence" to thrive on ‘Coronation Street’.
The 39-year-old actress starred in the ITV soap as Becky McDonald from 2006 to 2012, and she has admitted her former co-star – who played businessman Danny Baldwin – gave her some crucial advice about soap acting, which stood her in great stead on the cobbles.
She said: "When I was his factory girl, a long time ago now, in my first scenes with him he was really watching me.
"I’d come from theatre so I was waiting for notes and directions and he said, ‘You won’t get any of that, just do what you want to do.’ So I did.
"But I don’t think I would’ve had the confidence so early on if it wasn’t for Bradley."
After watching Katherine filming her opening six episodes on the soap, Bradley – who stars as the Time Lord’s companion Graham O’Brien in ‘Doctor Who’ – predicted she would go on to achieve great things in her acting career.
Speaking on ‘Lorraine’, she added: "He pulled me over to one side and said, ‘I think you’re quite remarkable, and I know you’re only here for six episodes,’ which was my initial contract, but he said, ‘I think if you want to stay in this show you’ve got a huge future.’ "
Bradley’s forecast came true with Katherine going on to appear in a number of big TV dramas since departing Weatherfield, including ‘Mr Selfridge’, ‘Happy Valley’, ‘The Night Manager’, ‘Strike Back’, and ‘Cheat’.
Katherine recently admitted she hasn’t seen any "snobbery about soaps" during her time on TV, and thinks soap stars have more opportunities than ever to become big names.
She said: "I’d say most of the colleagues I had on ‘Corrie’ are still working. We might not see them on TV because they’re doing stage work or they’re in America. But they’re doing really well.
"Of course, I can only speak about my experience or my generation of soap actors. But for me there hasn’t been any snobbery about soaps. I understand that was the case a decade or so before.
"There are also more channels and opportunities now. I actually think there is a good work rate for anyone who has been in a soap."
Katherine Kelly thanks Bradley Walsh for Corrie confidence boost
