Corrie bosses have killed off plans for a huge stunt to mark its 60th anniversary.
But producer Iain Macleod promised favourites Bill Roache, Barbara Knox, and Sue Nicholls will be back in time for the special episodes in December.
Bill, who plays Ken Barlow and Barbara, who plays Rita in the ITV soap, have been away as a precaution in the pandemic as they are over 70.
The TV boss said he was planning their return in time for the special episodes
He said: “In terms of Ken and Rita and Audrey and all those, yes, they’ll be on the screen in time for the 60th and indeed in the 60th episodes themselves. So that’s good news for everyone that loves the show as much as we all do.”
But he ruled out any former favourites returning - saying it could be a “cheap trick”.
He said: “In terms of whether there’s any other returns mooted, I mean, the answer to that has consistently on my part been no. I feel like I love our cast. I think we’ve got an incredible bunch of legends that are already in the show and just sort of having a revolving door of former cast coming in to do cameos just for a brief moment of the audience going, 'Oh wow, it’s them,' Just would have felt a bit like a cheap trick, dare I say."
He added: "So no, I’ve got no plans at all. And in fact, we’re past the point where I could develop plans to have returning casting done cameos and things. And as I say, I think our current cast is fabulous and we’ve got more than enough legends in the show already without trying to sort of add some more.”
He also revealed covid killed off their plans for a massive stunt which would have involved special FX and a huge set design.
He admits an anniversary always leads to a “Hollywood” style stunt but he assures fans it’s still going to have all the drama Corrie is known for.
“We had planned right before the pandemic to be doing something that was quite production intensive and challenging and would have required lots of SFX and elaborate design builds from our brilliant designs team.
"And we had all of that in play and then discovered quite quickly that actually, you wouldn’t be able to do any of that whilst remaining socially distanced.”
