Interviewed on Loose Women yesterday, Corrie star Chris Fountain revealed that is on-screen dad will be returning to the cobbles. Chris plays Tommy Duckworth who will soon be reunited with dad Terry, played by Nigel Pivaro. You may remember that Terry sold Tommy to his maternal grandparents for a few thousand pound, breaking Jack and Vera Duckworth's hearts.

Chris said: 'We've only just found out that Terry's coming back. I'm looking forward to it because it opens up a whole different side to Tommy that no one's ever seen before and I can't wait for that. I hope he's not living with me though. He sold me off for a few grand a few years ago.'

Nigel Pivaro says that he's looking forward to returning but will miss former co-stars Liz Damw and Bill Tarmey: 'Part of the excitement is that the show has changed so much with so many different characters and set ups it will present Terry with a completely different landscape to that which he knew before. I am going to enjoy playing Terry rediscovering his roots, the changes that have taken place and his reaction to them. It will be strange and a little sad without my old sparring partners, Bill and Liz with whom I had forged such a strong working and personal relationship, but I relish creating an interesting new rapport with Chris who plays Terry's son Tommy.'

And producer Phil Collinson said of the bad boy's return: 'I'm very excited to be welcoming arch villain Terry Duckworth back. This time though he'll not only be blighting the life of his son Tommy but the lives of every resident with a typically audacious scheme.'

So with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and new 'wife' Tracy (Kate Ford) being forced to live under the same roof, it looks like Steve is going to copy an old trick once used in Steptoe and Son - he's going to split the house in two.

Unlike the beloved sitcom rag and bone men, however, Steve will not be splitting the house down the middle vertically (older readers will remember this episode well), he will be living downstairs while Tracy lives upstairs.

Simon told the ITV website: 'He's got her in his sight and he's not going to get tripped up again - he's aiming for the kill. She threatens to become the neighbour from hell but she's pushed Steve so far that he is now the devious monkey. Let's see who wins this battle!'

Adding: 'Steve isn't very good at all at the moment. His true love has flown, quite literally, and he's living with the witch at No 13. All is not well. He's completely stuck with Tracy, she won't move out of the house and he doesn't know what to do. He can't stand the sight of her, he hates her.'
If Steve's history with Tracy is anything to go by we wouldn't expect this to be a battle he will win.

Website Manchester Confidential is reporting that English Heritage has received an application to have the current Corrie set listed as an historic building. If it were granted a listing it would mean that it would not be demolished when filming moves to the new set currently being built at Salford Quays and it may well be kept as a tourist attraction.

English Heritage told the site: 'We have received an application to consider the Coronation Street set for listing, and we are in the process of providing an assessment. An English Heritage advisor has visited the set. Following a consultation period where relevant parties can provide feedback and comment, we will then provide a full report and recommendation as to whether it should be listed. This recommendation will then go to the DCMS (Department for Culture Media and Sport) and they will make a decision based on the advice we provide.'

ITV say that they have not yet decided what the fate of the set will be but it does not appear that they made the application for the listing. English Heritage will not say who made the application but ITV, the city council and the relevant tourist agencies have all denied being involved.

If the 'historic interest' listing is confirmed it may well force ITV's hand and they would have to consider maintaining the set as a tourist attraction.

The Mirror are claiming that Corrie star Brooke Vincent, who plays Sophie Webster, has been offered a Premiership-style '5 figure' deal to stay on in Weatherfield. After losing her on-screen sister Helen Flanagan after she moved to Wales to be with her footballer boyfriend Scott Sinclair, the paper say that there are worries that the same will happen with Brooke. She currently dates Josh McEachran who is on loan to Swansea City from Chelsea.

A 'source' is quoted as saying: 'One of the reasons Helen left was that she found the commute to Swansea from Manchester hellish to see Scott. Bosses know Brooke is in love with Josh. Part of the negotiations, as well as more money to make sure she stays, will be making sure her filming ¬schedules ensure she has a decent amount of time to get to see Josh. Brooke is hugely popular with the younger viewers and is seen as an essential part of the soap's future.'

There is no word as to how Brooke Vincent feels about all of this but if the football metaphors are to be extended then she will either be sick as a parrot or over the moon. Or possibly offside (no idea what that means).

Since Betty Driver passed away last year there has been speculation about how her character Betty Williams will be written out of Corrie. Now producer Phil Collinson has revealed that Betty's character will pass away in the next few weeks and that a long-held secret will be revealed.

He told the Daily Star: 'Betty's funeral will be shown in April and the scenes will be a treat for fans as they will be a celebration of what the Street does best. We will be paying tribute to Betty, but behind the scenes will be the revelation of a secret she has kept hidden. I cannot tell you what it is, but it's a secret that Betty has taken to the grave with her and I can promise you that fans will be surprised. There is no love child or anything like that. The secret has something to do with the show's history but I am saying no more.'

What will it be? She secretly married Sean? She built the Rovers single-handed using Meccano? Her hotpots were bough it from a catering company? We'll have to wait and see......

Images: Press Association

Coronation Street stars paid tribute to late cast member Betty Driver as they picked up the award for Best Serial Drama at the National TV Awards (NTAs) last night.

Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Webster on the soap, accepted the award - which was presented by Paul O'Grady, saying: 'Thank you so much for this, thank you everybody whose voted for Coronation Street.'

'This one is for Betty Driver,' dedicating the award to the late Corrie star, who died in October last year aged 91.

Katherine Kelly who played Coronation Street's Becky McDonald until her exit from the show on Monday also picked up an award at the NTAs for best Serial Drama Performance.

You can see the full list of awards here.

A teenage boy who it is claimed was obsessed with Corrie character John Stape has gone on trial accused of a killing similar to one which featured in the soap. The boy cannot be named for legal reasons but his trial has begun at Nottingham Crown Court and the prosecution are claiming that Stape's murder of Charlotte Hoyle bears many similarities to the death at the centre of the case.

Shaun Smith QC, prosecuting, said in his opening statement: 'He was, we say, obsessed with John Stape, the Coronation Street man who killed a woman with a hammer and made it look like she had been injured in a crash. You will hear about a young man who immersed himself in a fantasy world; fantasy words he wrote, television drama, films he accessed by the internet and other internet sites. And he did that to such an extent that the prosecution say the boundaries between real life and fiction became very, very tragically blurred.'
The case continues.

Last night's Corrie saw 11.5 million viewers tune in to see Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) ruin the marriage of ex Steve (Simon Gregson and love-rival Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) before jetting off for a new life in the Caribbean.

The figure is almost twice the average amount of viewers for the time slot (normally it's around 6.6m) and it's the show's highest viewing figures since Valentine's Day 2011 when Leanne married Peter Barlow.

Nigel Havers is set to return to Weatherfield in coming weeks as love rat conman Lewis Archer. Lewis skipped the country after trying to relieve love-struck Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) out of her savings but will reappear when Ayudrey bumos into him in a country pub.

Apparently when Audrey confronts Lewis he attempts to avoid detection by claiming to be his own identical twin brother.

We'll know whether Audrey falls for this or not sometime in February, went the scenes hit our screens

Becky McDonald will be the subject of a special one-off tribute programme later in the month to coincide with the character leaving Weatherfield.

'Farewell Becky' will feature clips of her escapades in the show and Katherine Kelly has a recorded a special interview for the programme, which will be shown on January the 24th.

In a statement, ITV said: 'The character of Becky may have started out as a petty criminal, but she went on to steal the hearts of the nation.

'So, as viewers prepare to say farewell to one of the best-loved characters in British soap, we follow Becky's journey from her first appearance in a police station, through her many triumphs and traumas - ending with her emotional send-off on the show.

'We hear how Katherine made the character of Becky her own after coming into the show in 2006, where the inspiration for those outlandish costumes come from - and fellow actors reveal all on how Katherine doesn't hold back when it comes to the fight scenes or even the soap's more intimate moments!'

It appears that Corrie bosses are hedging their bets, keeping fans on their toes and doubling their tape stock budget by filming two different outcomes to the Frank Foster rape trial.

Frank (Andrew Lancel) will face justice for raping - no spoilers there, we all know he did it - Carla Connor (Alison King) but cast, crew and nosy journalists are being left in the dark as to the verdict.

Whether they can keep the secret right up to the transmission date but if they can it'll be one of the first time in recent years that events haven't been leaked in advance.

Here's hoping they manage it, it'd be nice to have a few surprises for once.

Always a favourite here at Corrie Blog are the news stories that tell us absolutely nothing. They're usually designed to bring press attention to an actor or actress if they haven't had any for a while or if they are looking to renegotiate their contract. Kym Marsh is a master of the form, with barely a week going by where she doesn't appear in the press telling us something of absolutely no value.

This week we have two stories with a stunning lack of value. Ready? Here they are:

1) Kate Ford (Tracy Barlow) isn't going to be on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here

2) Tina O'Brien (Sarah-Louise Platt) hasn't been asked to return to Coronation Street

Great stuff. Thanks for that 'the media'.

We'll have more non-stories for you as soon as they don't happen.

At a time when everyone is being forced to tighten their belts, it appears that the starts of Corrie are not immune. ITV plan to move the Coronation Street omnibus showing from ITV1 to ITV2, this means that the cast will not receive their full repeat fee (about 37% of their total income) but will instead get a cut of a much smaller royalty payment.

Actors union Equity are talking to cast members and ITV to see if a more favourable settlement can be found but strike action has not been ruled out.

The ever-reliable 'Corrie source' told The Sun: 'The stars are not happy and without the stars there is no show. They don't feel they deserve a pay cut while the show is at the top of its game. If the situation isn't resolved some cast members have indicated they'd be prepared to go on strike.'

An ITV spokesperson added: We are in the process of talking to cast members whose pay may be affected by the ending of the omnibus repeat on ITV1. We expect to come to an arrangement in the next few weeks. In the meantime we have confirmed that we will continue with repeat fee payments.'

Reports of flying pickets from Emmerdale turning up in Weatherfield cannot be confirmed at this stage.

Wow. Doesn't she look different? I don't know what to make of this new look, but Katherine Kelly certainly looks different - maybe a little more classy - in this picture from ITV1's This Morning.

Her character, Becky McDonald will be leaving Weatherfield at the end of this month after she was accused of causing Tracy Barlow to have a miscarriage. But Katherine, 32, feels sorry for her character and hopes she can clear her name before her soap exit.

She told ITV1's This Morning yesterday: "Becky's got to clear her name now, that's the thing.

"She's worked really hard, it's been this lovely redemption story and the Croppers have sort of trained her to become a good woman and now, not only has she lost the love of her life, but now it looks like she may lose her good name.

"It's a shame because she's worked so hard to achieve that. It's for Becky to prove she's not the evil person Tracy has made her out to be."

And here's a reminder of what she used to look like before the new look:

Via Daily Mirror

Despite several recent online denials it now appears that actress Jane Danson will be leaving Weatherfield for a while this year.

Her character Leanne Barlow is currently embroiled (even though she doesn't know it) in a love triangle with husband Peter (Chris Gascoyne and knicker factory boss Carla Connor (Alison King). It seems likely that news of the affair would provide writers the perfect opportunity to write Leanne out for a while.

As yet, there are no details of when Jane would be leaving the soap or when she ids likely to return.

Corrie as emerged top of the list of nominated TV shows for the National Television Awards with 4 nominations for the show.

The soap has been shortlisted for the Serial Drama award, Katherine Kelly (Becky McDonald) is up against Alison King (Carla Connor) in the Serial Drama Performance category and new boy Chris Fountain (Tommy Duckworth) gets nominated for Best Newcomer.

The awards are voted for by the public, with the winners announced at the O2 in London on the 26th of January.

Here is a list of all the categories and nominees:

Talent Show:

'Britain's Got Talent'

'Dancing on Ice'

'Strictly Come Dancing'

'The X Factor'

Comedy Panel Show:

'Celebrity Juice'

'Have I Got News For You'

'Mock The Week'

'QI'

Serial Drama:

'Coronation Street'

'EastEnders'

'Emmerdale'

'Hollyoaks'

Situation Comedy:

'Benidorm'

'Miranda'

'Outnumbered'

Drama:

'Doctor Who'

'Downton Abbey'

'Merlin'

'Waterloo Road'

Drama Performance Male:

John Barrowman ('Torchwood')

Martin Clunes ('Doc Martin')

Matt Smith ('Doctor Who')

David Threlfall ('Shameless')

Drama Performance Female:

Karen Gillan ('Doctor Who')

Jaye Jacobs ('Waterloo Road')

Suranne Jones ('Scott & Bailey')

Eve Myles ('Torchwood')

Serial Drama Performance:

Katherine Kelly ('Coronation Street')

Alison King ('Coronation Street')

Danny Miller ('Emmerdale')

Jessie Wallace ('EastEnders')

Reality Programme:

'Come Dine With Me'

'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'

'The Apprentice'

'The Only Way is Essex'

Factual Programme:

'An Idiot Abroad'

'Big Fat Gypsy Weddings'

'This Morning'

'Top Gear'

Talk Show:

'Alan Carr: Chatty Man'

'Loose Women'

'The Graham Norton Show'

'The Jonathan Ross Show'

Newcomer:

Chris Fountain ('Coronation Street')

Chelsea Halfpenny ('Emmerdale')

Jacqueline Jossa ('EastEnders')

Entertainment Presenter:

Ant & Dec

Keith Lemon

Michael McIntyre

Dermot O'Leary

Entertainment Programme:

'Dynamo: Magician Impossible'

'Harry Hill's TV Burp'

'Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow'

'Take Me Out'

Corrie actor Michael Le Vell discovered over the New Year break that he will face no charges in relation to an accusation of rape made against him.

Michael, who plays mechanic Kevin Webster in the soap, is currently on holiday but was telephoned by the Crown Prosecution Service and informed that there was insufficient evidence to continue with the prosecution of an accusation of 'historical rape' the police received from a teenage girl who claimed her raped her when she was a small child.

The Mirror is quoting Michael's brother-in-law Ian Wescott as saying: 'He's very happy. The family are too. He's doing OK' and claim a Corrie source told them: 'Everyone is over the moon for Michael. He's a popular bloke here and no one liked seeing him so miserable. It's great that he can now put all this behind him and get on with his life.'

Another Corrie source (or maybe the same one, who knows?) told The Sun: 'There was never any doubt of Michael's innocence in the eyes of the cast and crew. Bosses took a big risk because the damage to the reputation of Coronation Street would have been huge had he been charged. But they stood by their man and they, and him, have been vindicated.'

Michael received unanimous support from Corrie cast during the ordeal and last night Kym Marsh said on Twitter: 'Fantastic news about Michael Le Vell having all charges dropped! I hope they make as much of this news as they did about condemning him.'

The kiss between Corrie characters Sophie Webster and Sian Powers has been voted number 4 in a Guardian Top 10 lesbian kisses of all time. Writer Julie Bindel selected kisses from fiction and real life and selected the Corrie kiss ahead of Brookside's famous lesbian kiss and another in Hollyoaks.

Sophie (Brooke Vincent) and Sian (Sacha Parkinson) are due to marry over the festive period but with Sacha leaving the soap very soon it's unlikely everything will go according to plan.

The official trailer to the official Coronation Street musical 'Street Of Dreams' has officially been unveiled. It shows show narrator Paul O'Grady on the street dressed as a milkman meeting various characters - including Ken Barlow, Bet Lynch and Curly Watts - before disappearing into the Rovers. Via the gift of old footage, there's even an appearance by Corrie legend Elsie Tanner.

The show premieres at Manchester MEN Arena on March the 21st and 22nd next year and you can watch the trailer below.

Rather than blaming unemployment, education, availability of cheap booze or any other number of societal factors, South Tyneside councillors are looking to blame Coronation street for their constituents' excessive alcohol intake.

An article in the Sheffield Gazette asserts that the Geordie authority has completed a report on the county's alcohol problem and concluded that Corrie sets a bad example. They state that (fictional) workers at (fictional knicker factory) Underworld spend their (not real) dinner breaks in the (made up for TV) Rovers Return drinking Newton & Ridley (fake brand) beer before returning to work on (actually needle-less) sewing machines. (You may have guessed that we've added the bracketed information). They say that this sets a bad example.

Here's the actual quote from Councillor Gibson of South Tyneside Council: "We need to have a word with these TV producers who portray characters drinking at dinner time and then going back off to work. The Rovers Return is the only place I know where that can happen."

It's an interesting stand-point. It would appear that everyone in South Tyneside is sat at home not considering drinking excessively or during work hours or before operating machinery, then Corrie comes on and they go to bed determined to spend their next lunch break in the boozer. Or that minimum pay factory workers have the funds to spend their hard earned cash in the pub every dinner time. If the councillors honestly think that the average working person in their area can afford to drink excessive amounts of alcohol in their local every day then they are living in cloud cuckoo-land.

It's not often that we at Corrie Blog stick up for the show's producers but this attack is as pointless as it is ridiculous. It's a TV show, not a public information film. Rather than making stupid comments about Corrie, councillors, why not try making your residents' lives more comfortable? You may find that has a more positive affect on their health.

Rant ends.

Coronation Street's Bill Roache who plays Ken Barlow has predicted a series of "earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and tsunamis," will cleanse the earth in 2012.

The 79-year-old actor believes the world is heading for a series of natural disasters sent to disperse "negative energy," which will then herald a new "golden age" where people will communicate telepathically.

He told Sky's The Moore Show': "This is what all the prophecies about 2012 are. Unfortunately there are some cleansings that will have to take place where negative energy has to be discharged and these will be in the form of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and tsunamis.

"The doom and gloom, as they are saying, is that December 21, 2012, is the end of the Earth. It isn't, but it's the change and the end of a lot of things as we know them.

"We'll move into the golden age which will be a wonderful age where we'll all love. We'll communicate telepathically, we'll all be aware of our spiritual selves, and it will be a beautiful place to be."

Bill - who has appeared in Coronation Street since it launched 51 years ago - also explained he has held strong spiritual beliefs for some time, and a homeopathic doctor helped him in his early years on the ITV1 soap when he struggled to find comfort and happiness.

He added: "That guy was able to appear on the astral plane, and come into a dream and actually speak to me that way.

"Nowadays spiritual things are more accepted and it's going to keep getting bigger. But when I started, these things were very unusual and you had to be careful who you talked to. People would get hostile."

Outgoing Corrie star Katherine Kelly appeared on BBC Breakfast News this morning sporting a new brunette look to talk about leaving the street and her new stage role.

Katherine is due to appear in She Stoops To Conquer at London's National Theatre and compared it to a 'marathon' compared to the 'sprint' of Corrie.

She said she is happy to be leaving Weatherfield on a high: 'To actually be there at that time when it was the 50th, this time last year we were doing a live episode, she was the 50th barmaid, Mrs McDonald the third, everything just seems to have fallen into place,' she said.

Katherine has been in Coronation Street for five years and leaves in the New Year.

With Helen Flanagan leaving Corrie and her character Rosie Webster the show needed a reason for her departure. It now seems that Rosie will be moving to London to appear in a Big Brother-style TV show, dumping boyfriend Jason Grimshaw before she leaves.

Rosie has told the show's producer's that she is single and so has to finish with Jason to avoid the truth being discovered. Obviously this doesn't go down to well with Rosie's sister Sophie or Jason, who calls her 'disgusting'.

Helen Flanagan has also been talking to Reveal magazine about leaving the cobbles. She told them: 'I can't remember not being in the show, I really can't. It has literally been my whole life, all through going to school, my teen years - right up until now. I've grown up in the soap, but now it will be nice to have the freedom to grow myself. I'm grateful for everything Coronation Street has done for me, but I've worked continuously since I was nine and I want time for myself - to be me, not Rosie. I want to have the freedom to do things I've never done before - and lots of time to spend with my family, boyfriend and friends.'

The long-awaited Corrie musical as finally been confirmed for next year with Paul O'Grady taking the part of the narrator. The 90-minute show will be called Street Of Dreams when it opens in Manchester in March.

As well as O'Grady the show will feature past and present Corrie stars including William Roache (Ken Barlow), Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch), Kevin Kennedy (Curly Watts) and Brian Capron (Richard Hillman).

The show will cover every era from Corrie's history and feature specially-written songs and a 25 piece orchestra.

O'Grady is a life long fan of the Street and told the Daily Mirror that it was like a religion in his childhood home: 'Our household were such avid Corrie viewers and at 7.30 pronto we'd all sit down together and watch it. And if the phone dared ring during that half hour my mother would be outraged. There are still big chunks of script engraved in my memory from 30 years back'

Corrie star Chris Gascoyne has been talking to the TV Times about what the year ahead might hold for his character, boozy bookie Peter Barlow.

Chris says that he fears that 2012 may see the end of Peter. He said: 'You never know with Peter. This time next year he could easily be dead. That's one of the things I really enjoy - finding out how his life is going to unfold.'

He also speculated bout what might happen between Peter, his wife Leanne and on/ off/ will they/ won't they mistress Carla Connor, saying: 'Peter likes the chase. Leanne's become his wife and his little boy's mum, and it's become boring to him. I think it would be the same with Carla when reality kicks in and they have to go to work, or Simon is sick in the middle of the night.'