Waterloo Road actress Vanessa Hehir has reportedly clinched a role on ITV soap Coronation Street.
The 41-year-old, who also starred in Heartbeat, is said to have been cast as one of Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) parishioners on the cobbles.
Vanessa may be best known to TV viewers as the character Rosie Cartwright on ITV’s Heartbeat, who she played from 2001 to 2007, but she will now reportedly join the cobbles as a character called Esther Hargrave later this month.
A soap insider told The Sun : “She'll be onscreen for a while now”.
Vanessa does already have a connection to Corrie as her husband Leon Ockenden appeared on the soap in 2016 as Michelle Connor’s creepy boyfriend turned stalker Will Chatterton.
Vanessa, who appeared in 72 episodes of Heartbeat, played Sue Lowsley on BBC school drama Waterloo Road, which ran for 200 episodes from 2006 to 2015
The pair both starred on Waterloo Road together and their characters ended up having an illicit affair.
Speaking in the past about working with her husband on sex scenes, Vanessa said: “I was sick to the pit of my stomach when we had intimate scenes together.
“It just somehow feels different with my actual husband, even a bit weirder than with an actor you don’t know.
“On the one hand, I was thinking, ‘I hope my child never sees this’, but on the other hand it was kind of fun. And I never thought we’d have the opportunity to work together on a storyline like that. It’s a dream come true.”
The actress also appeared in a recurring role on Emmerdale between 2010 and 2011, Welsh comedy series Stella and Hollyoaks.
This comes after it was announced last year that Waterloo Road would be returning to BBC One.
Fans were thrilled to learn that several of the original cast will be returning as well. Angela Griffin, Adam Thomas and Katie Griffiths will all star in the new Waterloo Road revival.
While the return date has yet to be released, filming in Manchester has already begun with the broadcaster making thirty episodes as part of the new series of Waterloo Road.
The BBC say that the revival of the series will boost drama production skills in the North of England and help to reshape the BBC's drama slate to better reflect, represent and serve all parts of the country.
Piers Wenger, Director of BBC Drama, said of the news: "Waterloo Road is the perfect lens through which to explore post-Covid Britain, from the perspective of those who have arguably been affected most: young people in education.
"We are thrilled to be returning to this brilliant format - its thrills and spills, unmissable characters and high drama - at a time when audiences across Britain need it most - and to be collaborating with the brilliant Cameron Roach and Wall To Wall on its return.”
