Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney has revealed that she was broken-hearted after making the difficult decision to step away from a major TV role.
It was back in 1991, when she was just 20, that Claire took her first steps in her acting career, landing a role playing Lindsey Corkhill in the then hugely popular Channel 4 soap Brookside.
Opening up on the difficult decision to step away from the show, during a chat on the The Speakmans’ Hope Clinic podcast recently, Claire said: “I was literally broken-hearted. And I decided, I’ve done six years in Brookside, I’m not married, I’ve got no kids, and my dream since I was a kid was to be in musical theatre. And if I don’t do that now, I’m going to miss the boat, really.”
After coming to the realisation that it was now or never if she wanted to pursue a career on stage, she recalled how her next step was to go to her boss at Brookside, Phil Redmond, and tell him: “Phil, I’ve got to go and follow my dream and audition for musicals. I’ve got to leave.”
But despite not having any work lined up after her time in Brookside had come to an end, she said that it was on the back of her stint in Celebrity Big Brother that her career “exploded.”
Following her time on the reality TV show, she soon saw an influx of roles, including Challenge of a Lifetime on ITV, an opportunity to do her own album, and a part as Roxie Hart in the much-loved American musical Chicago.
She has returned to the stage several times since then, with appearances in adaptations of Snow White and Aladdin. Meanwhile, in 2006, she played Miss Adelaide in the British production of Guys and Dolls.
More recently, she has had something of a full-circle career moment after landing a role in Coronation Street in 2023.
Over the course of the last two years, Corrie fans have seen her character, Cassie Plummer, at the heart of the action.
In one of her most recent storylines on the soap, fans have seen her over-medicate Corrie legend Ken Barlow in a bid to ensure that he remains dependent on her as his carer.
Away from her acting career, she is set to try her luck this evening on the latest episode of Celebrity Catchphrase, where she will put her knowledge to the test against Casualty actor Mark Bonnar and former X Factor winner Alexandra Burke.
Celebrity Catchphrase will air at 7 p.m. this evening (July 20) on ITV.