Coronation Street character Elaine Metcalfe made her debut on the cobbles as evil Geoff Metcalfe’s long-suffering wife in 2020.
She was revealed to be Tim Metcalfe’s mum and her tragic story of how she fled Geoff’s abuse and had to leave her son behind to survive unravelled.
Elaine – who Tim thought was dead as dad Geoff told him she had died from cancer – now has a good relationship with her only son.
Her character has become good friends with Geoff’s former wife Yasmeen, who was also abused by him until he fell to his death from a roof trying while trying to attack her.
It looked like things were finally looking up for Elaine – until she recently got engaged to Stephen Reid, who viewers know is a serial killer.
While Corrie fans know the real reason Stephen is with Elaine is for her money, she has yet to find out, and it’s unlikely to end well.
Before starring as a regular character in Coronation Street, veteran actress Paula Wilcox – who plays Elaine – has enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years.
In fact one of her very first acting roles was in 1969 when she had a small role in Corrie as Ray Langton's runway sister, Janice.
The Manchester-born star later starred on on Granada TV show The Lovers in the 1970s alongside Kate Beckinsale’s actor dad, Richard Beckinsale.
They played courting couple Geoffrey and Beryl in the comedy series, which was later made into a film.
But the now 73-year-old is perhaps best known in her early career as flirtatious Chrissy Plummer in Man About The House, which made Paula a sex symbol and household name.
She also went on to star in Mount Pleasant, Only Fools and Horses, Footballers’ Wives, Holby City, Down to Earth and in Emmerdale as Laurel’s mum Hilary.
Despite her career success, off-screen Paula has dealt with personal tragedies – including the death of her first husband when she was just 29.
The actress was married to fellow actor Derek Seaton for 10 years after meeting when he was producing a play at the National Youth Theatre.
They tied the knot in 1969 when Paula was 19 and they went on to star together in Man About The House.
But sadly Derek died in 1979 from a brain haemorrhage aged just 35.
Paula later said the tragedy made her a “different person” and revealed it taught her to cope with whatever life threw at her.
She told The Telegraph in 2014: “It was bloody young. I was thinking about this the other day and I realised that at the time I had spent a third of my life with him [Derek]. It was a shock.
“But I think with any kind of tragedy or setback – and you know, we’ve all had them, it’s really about how you deal with it. Any tragedy becomes part of you. It becomes part of who you are.”
Paula, who has never had children, threw herself into work to cope after the devastating loss.
But she found love again 12 years later when she married second husband Nelson ‘Skip’ Riddle, who she lives with in south London.
And Skip has a huge claim to fame, as he is the son of American composer, bandleader and arranger Nelson Smock Riddle.
His father worked with some of the most famous singers in the world in the 1950s and 1960s including greats like Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole.
*Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV or catch up on ITVX
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