WHERE THE STREET HAS NO NAMES
Inside the Coronation Street crisis causing stars to quit – gruelling hours, poor pay and a toxic atmosphere
SERIAL killers, explosions and Underworld’s collapse have all chipped away at Weatherfield’s population – but the worst crisis to hit Coronation Street is the number of stars bailing out.
This week, Lucy Fallon became the SEVENTH Coronation Street actor to announce she was leaving the beleaguered ITV soap in just three months.
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In her four years as Bethany Platt, Lucy, 23, has won a National Television Award and two British Soap Awards.
So her decision not to renew her Coronation Street contract when it expires at the end of next year is a major blow to ITV bosses.
Yet to many of the cast and crew, her exit isn't a surprise.
Corrie sources say several more big names are poised to quit, fed up with the GRUELLING hours, POOR pay deals and the TOXIC atmosphere on set. A gulf has emerged among sections of the cast due to vast differences in salaries, and morale is at an all-time low.
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Key facts: Lucy Fallon
THE Sun reveals today that Lucy, 23, is leaving.
She has played Bethany Platt since 2015 and won three soap awards for her part in a harrowing child grooming storyline.
Boss Iain MacLeod confirmed her departure would be next year when her contract runs out.
Lucy said: “I’m so thankful to Iain and everyone at Coronation Street. I owe everything to them and I will miss them greatly.”
The mass exodus of high-profile stars includes Kym Marsh as Michelle Connor, Faye Brookes (Kate Connor), Tristan Gemmill (Robert Preston) and Katie McGlynn (Sinead Tinker).
Liam Bairstow (Alex Warner) has also announced he is temporarily leaving, although he is not contracted full-time.
He tweeted: “This is it for now for TV time. I have done all my episodes and I’m now doing stage work. I had the best time of my life with you and it’s time to think forward in life.”
A spokesman said: “Liam has not left Coronation Street and will be back filming at the end of this month.”
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Key facts: Katie McGlynn
SHE joined Corrie in 2013 as teetotal knicker stitcher Sinead Tinker.
Katie, 25, was nominated for Best Actress at this year’s British Soap Awards for her moving portrayal of pregnant Sinead’s cancer battle.
The Sun exclusively confirmed that Katie is quitting the soap.
Taking much of the flak for this current Corrie crisis is controversial new boss Iain MacLeod — who took over a year ago.
He has borne the brunt of grumbling both on set and among fans.
Discontent behind the scenes has been gathering momentum for some time, driven largely by the big disparity among the actors’ pay packets.
While veterans such as William Roache (Ken Barlow) pocket £250,000 a year, newcomers are on £50,000, with much of their fee dependent on appearances, with payments per episode of between £500 and £1,000.
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Key facts: Kym Marsh
DURING her 13-year reign as Michelle Connor she has dodged death at the hands of a serial killer and discovered her son was swapped at birth.
In February, Kym, 42, told The Sun she was quitting the show.
She said: “It feels like the right time for me to explore some other roles.”
Coronation Street's Michelle Connor faces the soap's most harrowing plot twists
Other big earners include Simon Gregson (Steve McDonald) who earns around £150,000 and Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster) on £170,000.
One source said: “The pay gaps have become an open secret and the newer names know they are working far longer hours for a fraction of the cash. It has sparked a lot of unhappiness.
“Lucy is just the latest to get fed up of seeing great opportunities go to waste because Corrie won’t let her take them on.
“She won’t be the last.”
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Key facts: Faye Brookes
SHE has played lesbian Kate Connor since 2015, who got out of a controlling relationship then was heartbroken by Rana’s death.
The door has been left open for Faye, 31, who tweeted: “I’ve loved playing Kate, but she needs a break... and so, with a song in my heart, I’m off to pastures new.”
It is an open secret within the industry that even minor stars on rival BBC1 soap EastEnders earn far more than their Corrie counterparts.
This is the fact despite EastEnders attracting substantially fewer viewers (four to five million an episode compared with Corrie’s seven million) and producing fewer episodes per week — four to six.
Coronation Street stars have begged in vain for bosses to lift the ban on them appearing in panto, which can bag them a payday up to £200,000.
ITV chiefs block their homegrown talent from these lucrative deals, while EastEnders veterans including Adam Woodyatt and Steve McFadden regularly make as much from the short run of Christmas work as they do in the rest of the year.
Antony Cotton (Sean Tully) and Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster) are among those said to have been keen to accept such offers but bosses refused to budge. Others including Lucy Jo Hudson jumped at the chance to sign-up once they were out of contract.
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Key facts: Tristan Gemmill
PLAYED chef Robert Preston since 2015, romancing ex-wife Tracy Barlow then Michelle Connor.
Tristan, 51, tweeted last week: “There is still a lot of drama and shenanigans to come for Robert but I will be leaving Corrie later in the year.”
At the same time, Coronation Street bosses have cracked down on actors’ earning money from their fame away from the cobbles — banning commercial endorsement deals which were worth tens of thousands of pounds on top of their show fees.
Previously, cast had the opportunity to boost their earnings by promoting cosmetics, clothes and fast food via Instagram, but now this gets them a stern ticking off.
Brooke Vincent, who has played Sophie Webster since 2004, was pulled in by bosses after posting tweets and photographs endorsing fast food chain Domino’s Pizza.
Corrie bosses took similar action against Helen Flanagan (Rosie Webster) for her tweets promoting a cosmetic surgery clinic and a dry-cleaning chain.
The tightened rules are a major blow to young stars, who can earn as much from product and brand endorsements as they do from the show itself, with specialist agents offering five-figure sums to the biggest names for a single post on Instagram or Twitter.
A Street spokeswoman said: “All cast members are given guidelines to assist them with Twitter.”
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Take a look inside Coronation Street’s make-up room
Meanwhile, ITV has introduced major commercial deals within the show with branches of Costa Coffee and Co-Op actually on the Street.
The cast are now required to clutch branded coffee cups as they film or chat near the signage, even re-shooting to ensure that brand logos are fully visible on camera.
One insider said: “It seems like double standards.
“They’re shooting an ad but without the fee, when they’ve been banned from doing it themselves.”
Another major source of discontent among the cast is the new rules stating they are expected to work on set at weekends as well as at any time of the day or night during the week.
One star told The Sun: “It sounds like good money, and of course it is compared to many people, but you are held to unbelievable conditions.
“You can’t live a normal life and there is constant scrutiny, on top of ridiculously long and unpredictable hours. It’s anything but glamorous.”
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Key facts: Bhavna Limbachia
SPENT three years playing Rana Habeeb, who was crushed to death in the factory collapse in March, just before her wedding to Kate Connor.
After The Sun exclusively confirmed she was leaving, Bhavna, 35, thanked the soap’s boss Iain MacLeod for “respecting her decision to leave”.
With the gripes mounting up, for many cast members the grass is starting to look decidedly greener outside Weatherfield.
Cast members have watched in envy as those brave enough to take the plunge became major stars in their own right.
TV superstars including Sarah Lancashire, Suranne Jones, Sally Lindsay and Katherine Kelly all proved it was possible to shake-off fears of being type-cast and negotiate huge pay deals.
More recently, Michelle Keegan has forged a successful career away from the cobbles in BBC1’s Our Girl.
The lure of mirroring these stars’ success has made it difficult for producers to convince their rising stars to renew their contracts.
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Key facts: Connie Hyde
SHE began playing Sally Metcalfe’s bi-polar sister Gina Seddon in 2017.
Underworld machinist Gina romanced Dev and tried to seduce Sally’s husband Tim.
The Sun exclusively revealed in March that Connie, 49, had thrown in the towel as bosses wanted to give her character a break.
Since autumn 2017, Corrie went from five to six episodes a week, to rake in more cash from advertising, including deals with sponsors Compare The Market, which meant increasing the cast’s workload.
Additional characters were brought in — 70 main actors are listed on Corrie’s official website, the biggest ensemble in the show’s 60-year history. But rather than ease the workload, insiders say the new names have reduced the number of scenes each star features in, and, in some cases, lowered their earning potential.
As one disgruntled insider put it: “They’ve made some changes, but it wasn’t for our benefit.”
Producer Iain MacLeod has been the scapegoat for all the unhappiness. He took over in April 2018 from Kate Oates, who quit following criticism that the soap’s storylines had become too dark.
But she remained popular with the cast. Many are said to miss her influence and accuse MacLeod of neglecting established names in favour of developing his characters.
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Corrie bosses insisted this week that MacLeod is not responsible for the run of recent departures, yet in his previous tenure as Emmerdale boss ten major stars quit in a year.
At that time, an insider told The Sun, MacLeod had been nicknamed Donald Trump by Emmerdale cast and producers “because of his cut-throat attitude and the way he’s keen to focus on new signings, not long-standing cast members”.
The big question among the Coronation Street cast is: Who’s next out the door?
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