Look who’s back... Corrie’s Debbie is no teen tearaway
CORONATION Street is about to welcome back one of its wayward teenagers... after a break of 35 years.
Since Sue Devaney first played Debbie Webster the soap has moved on to a new set in Media City in Salford.
But Sue is returning to the cobbles via a route that has seen her starring in a host of TV shows from Dinnerladies to Casualty.
Her return coincides with an unusual time on set with safety measures in place for coronavirus.
Ruined
Sue said last night she had hoped to have some on-screen romance but the current situation had ruined that, adding: “I was hoping to have a few snogs. But with the lockdown we have got to be two metres so there is none of that going on.”
She admits to some nerves setting foot back on the cobbles, which began with a brief stint last year. “I got all the nerves you get starting a new job, like first day at school, but once I got there it was lovely,” she said. “I thought I would be nervous playing a character I played when I was 16 and I am now 53, but it was just so easy and I loved it. I feel very lucky, and with what is going on at the moment, to have a job I feel blessed.”
Sue’s character Debbie left the soap with her on-screen dad Bill in 1985 after a year on the show as an argumentative youngster who had no qualifications.
Now she will return a successful businesswoman set to stir things up. She owes thanks for her comeback to Michael Le Vell, who plays her onscreen older brother Kevin Webster.
She said: “They invited me back last year – I did six episodes and they fitted me in. And then Mike Le Vell said ‘Would you come back here?’ and I said I would love to because for five years I have not spent much time in my own bed because I have been on tour.
“So he said ‘Right, make sure you are not doing any tours and are available because I am going to speak to this producer’. He was brilliant.”
She had been due to return to Corrie in April, but that was delayed because of lockdown.
Coronation Street continues on ITV tomorrow. Debbie Webster will return to the cobbles on August 26.