Corrie stars used to look fabulous to go to work... now they’re in running kit

Street’s Sherrie on casual new breed

Barbara Knox was ‘immaculate’

FORMER Corrie star Sherrie Hewson has told how the stars of the cobbles always used to be “immaculate” but now the cast turn up in their gym kit.

The actress, who played Maureen Webster in the 1990s, said it was now a “different world” compared to when she was in the ITV soap.

She said: “There used to be a tradition of glamour. People used to dress up to come to work.

“I think maybe it is a generational thing. Bill Roache was always smart. He always wore a suit. Barbara Knox was the queen of the street and she still is. Everything immaculate, you know – the clothes, the hair...

“I always took that from her. Like, ‘You should always look fabulous when you come to work. Not sloppy.’”

Talking about the cast now, she added: “It is different. Everybody has got running clothes on as they are just about to go for a run before they go to work. I loved the glamour.”

Sherrie, 69, also told the Distinct Nostalgia podcast how the Coronation Street cast had a pecking order.

She said: “Ena Sharples and Pat Phoenix used to have their own chairs and you would never dare sit in them. It was their Hollywood, totally.

“Liz Dawn used to say to me ‘This is Hollywood’. With Jack [Bill Tarmey] and Vera you would never get bigger coverage – like every day, endless photos, papers and magazines. They were massive stars.

“When I first met Julie Goodyear [who played Bet Lynch] she was in a leopard print leotard and tights just to rehearse in, and I just thought ‘Well, of course’.