Coronation Street fans were introduced to the soap's newest character Dee-Dee Bailey, and she quickly impressed with her no-nonsense attitude as she delved in to help her brother. The Baileys were thrilled as Dee-Dee arrived home from America in Wednesday's episode (September 28).
When footballer James showed her his letter from Weatherfield County offering him a paltry final pay-off after his career was suddenly cut short when he suffered a heart attack during a charity match with the Rovers Return, Dee-Dee wasn't standing for it. His solicitor sister rolled up her sleeves and demanded a meeting with his bosses.
As Dee-Dee pushed for and succeeded in landing him a better deal within minutes of her arrival, the ITV soap's viewers were won over. @andrewmcb tweeted: "I’m liking her x" And @KingOfSunshine praised: "Already loving Dee Dee. Brilliant!"
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@Clawmaw cheered: "Dee-Dee is not messing about! She did well in that meeting!" @TashAmaka messaged: "Great addition. Here for Dee-Dee." And @mishybabez_wrote: "I love lawyer Dee Dee so much."
@Arlene_HWycombe tweeted: "Well this new sister is good." @sofaneilas agreed: "Dee Dee's only been in five mins and sorted out the club haha." And @KickAssCantona2 said: "I love the new Dee-Dee she’s brilliant."
Fans think there could be a promising new partnership between Dee-Dee and fellow solicitor Adam Barlow after Adam's business partner Imran Habeeb was tragically killed following a car crash in June.
@Mrs_SimonCowell said: "What’s the betting Dee Dee gets a job with Adam in the solicitors." @KatLovesShnicky asked: "Can we please have Dee Dee with Adam in the Solicitors office?!" And @Momrocks50 said: "Dee Dee is cool and can see Adam getting a new partner she is smart."
And Dee-Dee was plunged straight into the Stu Carpenter murder mystery plot as he was asked by Yasmeen Nazir to take on his case to see if they can get him exonerated after he was jailed for the murder of a young woman.
The elusive Dee-Dee, whose real name is Diana, has never been seen on-screen. Her parents Aggie and Ed, and their two sons Michael and James arrived on the street back in 2019, followed by Ed's brother, Ronnie Bailey, early last year.
Newcomer Channique Sterling-Brown has been cast in the role. Revealing what Corrie viewers can expect from the character, the actress said: "She's a bit of me! Dee-Dee's going to bring a lot of fun, a lot of chaos - but in a good way, hopefully! Dee-Dee is organised chaos, is how I describe her. She bursts into any room she's in, she's a big personality but she's really hard-working. She's a great lawyer, she knows what she's doing."
Corrie's producer Iain MacLeod also teased the character's arrival during a press preview of what's to come this autumn. "I love this character. I loved her long before she physically existed, just by the way she was described in the Bailey family," he told us. "But essentially, you can expect a certain amount of chaos.
"She's got an incredibly big heart. She's incredibly competent at her job, but you'd never guess that to meet her. Dee Dee works in law and she's the sort of person that will issue a point-on-point takedown of a team of hotshot lawyers to defend her client but will then turn to leave the courtroom and you'll realise that she's done the whole thing with her skirt tucked into her knickers."
And he was quick to confirm that there will be no hidden agenda with Dee-Dee. "Whenever you introduce a new character, it's the default setting to go, 'And what is her dark secret that she's concealing when she arrives?' Ordinarily, that serves you very well," Iain said.
"But actually, with this character we thought, 'Well, I don't know if I want her to have one'. She's so exuberant and just seems so bulletproof and impervious to the travails of modern life that she dusts herself down and gets on with it. I didn't want to discover that she's got some terrible burden.
"Actually, it was really refreshing when we all came to that decision, which was, 'Let's not do that'. Instead it's, 'Oh yeah. She can just be incredibly joyous.'" When discussing casting Channique in the role of Dee Dee, Iain praised the actress for her "energy" and "vibrance". He added: "I'm really, really excited to see her crash land into that family."
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