Coronation Street fans were ecstatic on Wednesday evening as Izzy Armstrong returned to the ITV soap after years away from the cobbles.
Actress Cherylee Houston made her long-awaited return after an extended period of shielding from Covid-19 during the pandemic.
Cherylee, who took on the role of Izzy in 2010, was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos, a rare connective tissue disorder, when she was 23 and last appeared on the street before lockdown in 2020.
Appearing in the café with Gary Windass, Izzy gave him advice on wife Maria Connor after her weeks of torment at the hands of evil Griff.
After the brief scene, Corrie fans at home were overjoyed to see the character on their screens again and took to Twitter to praise the ‘lovely surprise’.
One wrote: “Hello Izzie we haven't seen you for ages welcome back,” as another added: “Good gracious. Are my eyes deceiving me....is that really Izzy. It's been years . Welcome back Cherylee Houston.”
A third added: “I nearly forgot Izzy existed,” as one penned: “Omg it’s nice to see her back!!! What a lovely Surprise.”
Other fans were left slightly baffled at the lack of explanation to Izzy’s absence for a number of years.
One wrote: “Izzy just pops up like she’s not been missing for 3 years,” as another added: “No mention of the fact Izzy’s been gone for 3 years then?”
“Where has Izzy been she’s been gone for time,” a third asked as another wrote: “Is Izzy like a special guest character these days? The last I saw her she was getting bollocked over Zoom for making knickers at home during the pandemic.”
Izzy made an appearance via Zoom in 2021, in a storyline which showed the difficulty faced by disabled people during the pandemic.
Cherylee praised the team at Coronation Street for being ‘really supportive’ about her return to work.
She told The Mirror: “We did do some scenes from home, we talked about the possibility of that or me going back to a gentle start to ease me back in. They’ve just been really supportive.”
This comes after Cherylee has revealed she would love to be a soap villain.
The 47-year-old says: “I love playing Izzy – and I always want to play Izzy. But I’d love to play a murderer! I’d love to be a really bad baddie.”
Undies factory worker Izzy has, of course, seen her fair share of baddies during her days on the cobbles.
And her starring role is not centred on her disability – Izzy has been at the centre of romantic drama and has always fought her corner as a single mum.
