Coronation Street bosses have scrapped more dark storylines for 'demon child' Hope Stape over fears she could "burn out".
The child actor, played by 12-year-old Isabella Flanagan, has already had some harrowing storylines in the ITV soap.
She is the daughter of serial killer John Stape, who was married to her mum Fiz, and was recently seen trying to cash in on his ‘fame’ by selling signed copies of a book about his life in school.
But things took a dark turn when she heard classmates making fun of her and she pulled out a hammer to ‘re-enact’ one of his gruesome murders.
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Viewers have also seen Hope try to kill her stepdad Tyrone Dobbs’ ex-girlfriend Alina Pop by setting fire to their flat as she slept.
Tragically, Alina – who was pregnant with Tyrone’s child at the time - suffered a miscarriage but was saved from the flames.
In another bid to cause havoc for the adults around her, Hope hid her cousin Joseph in the loft for days while they thought he was missing.
Most recently she was seen faking a dog bite after her aunty Beth’s dog Peanut killed her pet, Cilla the Chinchilla so he would be put down.
But after a tumultuous few years, Corrie boss Iain MacLeod says he plans to go in a different direction with Hope’s character.
Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women, he revealed: “She’s certainly not going to continue down such a troubled path.
“We thought actually we’ve done some very dark and twisted things with that character, and okay, that will still be part of her, but for the next 12 months we’re going to do normal pre-teen stuff.”
Teasing what’s to come next for actress Isabella - who is the younger sister of Amelia Flanagan, 14, who plays April Windsor in Emmerdale - Iain hinted at a romance with character Sam Blakeman.
He said: “We’re going to be building a friendship with her and Sam that will verge on a very innocent pre-teen romance a little bit and they try to navigate those waters.
“It will always have a Hope twist on it because she’s maybe wired a bit differently than most kids her age... but we’ll see a more down-to-earth grounded side of her.”
Explaining why producers wanted to go down that route for Isabella’s character, Iain said he didn’t want to risk burning her out with constant huge storylines.
“I think there’s a risk with any character that’s that brilliant – and Isabella is such a good actress as well – that you burn them out by having them do too much big crazy stuff in a run.”
Tipping Isabella and her co-star Jude Riordan, who plays Sam, for Hollywood stardom when they get older, Iain added: “if we’re lucky, God willing, we’ll have them for years and years.”
*Coronation is on ITV at 8pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or watch it on catch up on ITV X
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