Things you might not know about Anne Kirkbride

In this week's Inside Soap, we learn some surprising things about Anne Kirkbride, who has played Deirdre Ann Hunt Langton Barlow Rachid Barlow in Coronation Street since 1972.

Did you know that Anne has a navel piercing? I seem to remember reading that she went along with Jacqueline Pirie (who played Linda Sykes) and they both had it done. Anne also has a tattoo of a rose on her right shoulder, which apparently was done by the same person who did the angel on David Beckham's back.

She's been married to actor David Beckett since 1992. They met on the Corrie set when David played Dave Barton - who dated Deirdre after Ken left her for Wendy Crozier. Annd says they are "joined at the hip." They have no children, and Anne has never felt an overwhelming desire to have any.

Anne feels she has a strong bond with William Roache, who plays husband Ken. "We're almost telepathically linked," she says. "We love working together." She also counts Bev Callard among her best friends and is pleased that her character and Bev's are close mates on the Street as well.

And she reveals that when she was featured in the programme This is Your Life in 1998, she hardly felt any emotion. This was because she was on drugs for depression at the time. She says, "It just left me cold."