Coronation Street cast angered by panto ban… as EastEnders rivals are set to net six figure sums
Soap stars seething after bosses refuse to authorise lucrative Christmas gigs
OUTRAGED Corrie stars are furious with bosses who have banned them from lucrative panto deals.
The cobblestone cast are already up in arms over fears they will have to work extra hours and weekends with the show set to go six nights a week.
They hoped bosses would lift the ban on them appearing in money-spinning pantos to earn some extra festive cash.
A show insider told The Sun online that backstage chatter is at odds with bosses' recent claim that all is well with cast and crew in the northern soap.
They said: “There is a growing feeling that people should be able to earn extra money these days.
"Despite what the top brass are saying it is definitely not a happy ship behind the scenes.
“There is ill feeling and confusion over the new workloads so people thought the bosses might have cut a bit of slack for people to do panto for a change.”
Cast members were seen debating details of the lucrative EastEnders pantomime deals in between filming schedules – furious that at least five and may be up to eight of the Walford stars have been allowed to sign up money-raking deals.
Steve McFadden, who plays alcoholic hardman Phil Mitchell, will star alongside John Barrowman and The Krankies in Dick Whittington at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Emma Barton, (Honey Mitchell) is set to star in Peter Pan at The Hawth, Crawley while her on-screen in-laws Rita Simons (Roxy Mitchell) is in Snow White at The Albans Theatre, St Albans,
Richard Blackwood (Vicent Hubbard) in Cinderella at The Arena, Derby and Samantha Womack (Ronnie Mitchell) is signed up to appear in Dick Whittington at Milton Keynes Theatre.
It's also believed Jake Wood (Max Branning), Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale) and Scott Maslen (Jack Branning) have also been given permission to take time out to appear in panto and are currently believed to be in talks.
The source added: “People think it’s unbelievable and unfair that the EastEnders lot are able to make massive amounts of money for just a few weeks work whereas the Corrie bosses simply won’t budge”, said the insider.
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“Quite simply people can make as much, if not more for three of four weeks work over Christmas and New Year than they can make in an entire year.
"People were reacting with the likes of ‘if they can do it why can’t we’? Some of the younger cast aren’t on a lot of money so to be able to boost their income in this way would be a dream come true for them.
“There was a feeling at the start of the year that the continued ban on cast members doing panto would be relaxed – but it is clearly still a bug bear and the fact that someone came in with the list of EastEnders stars didn’t help! ”
They are believed to have had “a bit of a ding dong” in a heated meeting with show chiefs.
But a Corrie spokeswoman maintains they have had an “overwhelmingly positive response to the six episodes from the cast.
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