OVER half a century Helen Worth went from girl next door to grand dame on Coronation Street – then departed Weatherfield in a blaze of glory.
Now, in a rare interview, has revealed for the first time the circumstances that led to 15 months ago.
Helen Worth, 75, revealed she left Coronation Street after 50 years due to the intense and bewildering filming schedule which seemed to get worseCredit: ITV
Helen as Gail Platt alongside and Amanda Barrie as Alma Sedgewick on the ITV soap in 1991Credit: Rex
The soap star in her final scene with John ThomsonCredit: ITV
, 75, painted the picture of an intense and bewildering filming schedule which seemed to get worse in the last year she was on the show.
She said: “It was only a bit towards the end when I got a bit tired. But the first, how many years? 49 years, were a dream.”
Helen added: “My final husband, , was absolutely gorgeous to me, because by then I was rattling a bit.
“It was around about 4,000 episodes and I was rattling a little bit. And he was very sweet.”
Although she tapped out of , Helen seemed to suggest it was an acting career she hoped would never end, pointing out she’d been in the business since she was 12 years old – and never ran out of job offers.
She said: “It just went on and it didn’t stop until last year when I’d done 50 years. I mean there’s not many actors can say that and it just kept coming and I just kept loving it.
“I never wanted it to change ever.”
She was in conversation at an event with , who played opposite Helen as on from 1998.
They were talking on Sunday night at An Evening with Helen Worth at Hope Mill in to raise funds for the venue.
Julie started a discussion about the frantic filming schedules she experienced after she joined the soap nearly 30 years ago and Helen remarked: “You had days off then, didn’t you?”
Julie, who left the show in 2014, also remarked on how bewildering the filming patterns became with storylines often not filmed in order of a narrative’s chronology.
She said: “You’d be burying your husband on the Monday, marrying him on the Tuesday…you’re just like: ‘Where am I, what am I doing?’”
Helen added: “It’s even worse than that now, because it can be a scene from one week, and then a scene from another episode, and then go back to the second week and do a scene in the same day.”
She hasn’t been back to the soap since she filmed her which went out on Day, 2024. Though on Christmas Day last year she did have a small cameo where she made a special festive video call to the rest of the Platt family.
It was only a bit towards the end when I got a bit tired. But the first, how many years? 49 years, were a dream
Helen Worth
Helen started off in theatre, and Julie asked her if she’d ever consider a return.
The actress said the first 49 years on the show ‘were a dream’
A young Helen seen on Corrie in 1974Credit: Rex
‘A bit wobbly’
She replied: “I don’t think I dare. I think I’m too frightened…I’m not sure I could remember it all now. I mean, I was a young girl. I’m not anymore.”
In fact Helen revealed to the audience: “I’m feeling a bit wobbly at the moment because I don’t know what questions Julie’s got for me.”
Julie added: “I must say to you all, Helen was quite nervous about tonight. She’s a very private person. She doesn’t do these events at all. And it was quite something to persuade Helen to come and do this.”
Once relaxed into the evening, she recalled some of the highlights of her time on Corrie including the stand out moment when her murderous husband , played by , drove a car carrying her and the rest of the Platts into a canal.
That was in 2003 – with over 19m tuning in.
Recalling the lead up to filming, Helen said: “I can’t swim. And to do that scene, I had to learn to swim. Which was pretty scary. I learned how to swim in two days. I think, I’m not even sure if it was two days, it might have just been one.
“I thought I was about to die, really. I thought: ‘I can’t!’ you know.
“But I didn’t think I could come out of that storyline having not done the last scene. Because it would be cheating everybody, if they didn’t see me trying not to drown.
“So I thought I had to do it. So I did. And I’m very glad I did.”
Helen added of her time on the cobbles: “I had good and bad days…but then you forget the bad days and you just remember the good days.”
A portrait of the Platt family, including Todd Grimshaw, Nick Tilsley, Maria Sutherland, David Platt, Sarah Platt, Bethany Platt, Gail Platt and Audrey RobertsCredit: Rex
Helen is all smiles as she receives an MBE for services to drama at Windsor in 2023Credit: James Veysey Gail's biggest Corrie storylines
Over the years the character of Gail Platt has been the centre of several major plots.
Here we take a look back over actress Helen Worth’s biggest storylines:
Teenage daughter’s pregnancy
One of Gail’s most controversial storylines was in 1999.
It came when her 13-year-old daughter Sarah became pregnant.
Multiple marriages
Gail holds the record for the series’ most married female character.
She has been wed a whopping six times, each one worse the last.
Married to a serial killer
One of , who turned out to be a serial killer.
At the climax of the storyline, 19 million fans tuned in to watch Hillman drive his wife and her family into a canal.
Scrapping on The Street
Gail has proved over the years she can’t resist a good scrap.
Her most memorable bust-up saw her attack Eileen Grimshaw on the cobbles in 2004 while in her dressing gown.
Jail bird
In 2010, Gail found herself wrongly banged up in jail.
She was wrongfully arrested for murdering her 4th husband Joe McIntyre.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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