Her long-suffering character Gail Rodwell has seen more drama than most on the Coronation Street cobbles, but soap legend Helen Worth was a world away from Weatherfield as she collected her MBE for services to drama. Helen, who has played matriarch Gail since 1974, was beaming with joy as she was made an MBE by the Prince of Wales.
She swapped the famous Coronation Street cobbles for Windsor Castle on Tuesday (January 24) and was full of praise for Prince William. Helen told the PA news agency: "He (William) was so lovely, so easy. He asked all the right questions. He was very complimentary."
She added: "It just feels absolutely wonderful. To collect an MBE is very special. But to receive it in this beautiful building and to be able to walk through it and look at all these pictures and tapestries, I love castles and houses in history, and so for me to come here today is just absolutely wonderful."
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Helen said she planned to celebrate with her husband and her friends in Windsor after staying overnight in a hotel. She said: "To have had a job and one that I love, and to be able to work in it is quite extraordinary. And then to get an award for it is just the icing on the cake."
Helen, 72, added: "I have a little time off to begin with but I will walk in with my medal the day I do. There are quite a few medals scattered around the cast. They've all already been given them. I'm bringing up the rear really."
She is the soap's most married female character, having been married six times. Her storylines include her marriage to Brian Tilsley and her affair with Brian's cousin Ian Latimer before they remarried in 1988, Brian being killed in a knife attack and marrying younger man Martin Platt, coping when her teenage daughter Sarah fell pregnant at the age of 13 and divorcing Martin after he had affair with colleague Rebecca Hopkins.
She then went on to marry 'Norman Bates with a briefcase' Richard Hillman, who she discovered was a serial killer, and was kidnapped with her children Sarah, David and granddaughter Bethany and driven into the canal by him. She was jailed for her next husband Joe McIntyre's murder when his plan to fake his own death went wrong, then she was conned out of her money by mum Audrey's ex-partner Lewis Archer.
Tragedy struck again when her fifth husband Michael Rodwell feuded with evil builder Pat Phelan. In shock scenes screened in 2016 Michael, played by Les Dennis, suffered a heart attack as Pat stood over him and watched him die.
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