Coronation Street star Jennie McAlpine opened up about how the ITV soap has been covering up her blossoming baby bump from the cameras on the cobbles.
The 38-year-old star, who plays Fiz Stape on the soap, is pregnant with her third child with husband Chris Farr.
The former I’m A Celebrity campmate appeared on Friday afternoon’s instalment of Loose Women with host Kaye Adams and panellists Linda Robson, Nadia Sawalha and Carol McGiffin.
Jennie explained how her scenes on the soap now often see her with a washing basket in her hands to cover the bump, before Linda said she often used a big shopping bag to do the same thing during her Birds of a Feather days.
Jennie added: “Last time, I’m not joking, with baby number two we hid the bump behind a Ford Fiesta.
“The director said, ‘I think it would be nice if we had that car a little further into the shot’.
“Even the writers have put in a lot more ‘Fiz brings the washing in’ – there's a lot more of that at the start of the script.
“I feel like she does a lot of washing anyway, but she’s going to be doing a lot more.”
Jennie noted that soon her character Fiz will have ‘to disappear’ to allow the actress to give birth and go on maternity leave, adding that she already knows how the soap bosses plan on working it into her newlywed character’s storyline.
She said: “Obviously the other thing is it’s all got to be a bit of a moveable feast because hopefully the baby behaves and it all happens at the right time. There’s a plan.”
Jennie and her husband – who married in 2017 and already share son Albert, eight, and daughter Hilda, four, together – have decided not to find out the gender of their baby to keep it a surprise for the big day.
Her daughter’s name Hilda was inspired by Corrie character Hilda Ogden, who was played by the late Jean Alexander.
Jennie previously said she wouldn’t rule out using the ITV soap as inspiration again, telling the OK! magazine: “I can probably guarantee that whatever the name we choose, it will have been a character in Corrie – I don’t know how to avoid it!
“It just feels really nice. We’re so over the moon. The thought of adding to our family mix and chaos was the best Christmas present! I’m really excited for 2023 – it’ll be a special one.”
