AN iconic Coronation Street character is set to be recast – but all is not what it appears to be.
In scenes set to air in Thursday night’s episode (September 24), legendary star Toyah Battersby will be replaced by a new actress.
However, fans don’t need to be too devastated as actress Georgia Taylor hasn’t quit the soap.
Instead, Anya Williams is stepping into her shoes for one specific and yet poignant scene as part of Debbie Webster’s ongoing storyline.
In tonight’s episode, Debbie (Sue Devaney) is seen leaving the taxi office after a chat with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson).
She stops to ask a woman for directions to the Rovers Return as she in turn asks if she’s okay.
An agitated Debbie shouts: “How do you know my name?” before telling the woman not to touch her after she offered to take her to the pub.
As Debbie walks away, the camera angle changes and viewers will see that it was Toyah the whole time.
The important moment highlights Debbie’s worsening condition as even people she knows are beginning to appear as strangers to her.
This isn’t the first time a soap has done this as Emmerdale did this before as they tried the technique previously.
The soap cast a different actor for Aaron Dingle for a few scenes as his neighbour Ashley Thomas struggled to recognise him because of his dementia.
It comes after it was revealed that bosses have decided to kill off Debbie on the ITV1 soap.
Actress Sue broke her silence on the axe in an exclusive interview with The Sun at the earlier this month.
She expressed: “The thing with life is you end up thinking one thing and then it pulls you another way.
” was quite happy at Corrie as I’d just got married last year and I knew I didn’t want to go on tour and do all that sort of stuff anymore and at Corrie I’m with all my mates.
“This was the next closest thing to a normal job.
“So I loved being here for that but then Kate the producer did come and say ‘look we’ve got this storyline’.”
Despite not being in her sights to leave, Sue took it in her stride, telling us: “I had to think, ‘I’m an actor and I want to act’.
“And this then became a perfect opportunity to really do that.”
Whilst Debbie has been diagnosed with dementia on-screen, bosses are planning to make the plot one of their longest-running ones ever with Sue expected to remain on screen until at least 2027.
Sue’s portrayal already saw her bag an NTA nomination as she found herself competing for the prize of Serial Drama Performance at last year’s ceremony.
She lost out to of with the rival scooping two awards.
