Coronation Street actress says return plans were ruined after co-star was sacked
Former Coronation Street actress Jayne Tunnicliffe has revealed that there had been plans for her to go back to the soap before her co-star was sacked from the show
Coronation Street actress says return plans were ruined after co-star was sacked(Image: ITV)
Former Coronation Street star Jayne Tunnicliffe has revealed that there were plans for her character to return until her co-star was sacked. The actress, 58, played Yana Lumb on the ITV soap from 2004 until 2007, and was known for being the best friend of Cilla Battersby-Brown.
The pair were always getting up to mischief together around their time working in the local chippy, and Yana often got caught up in Cilla’s scams and failed attempts at shoplifting. Cilla (Wendi Peters) was famously introduced as the neglectful mother of Fiz and Chesney Brown, and became Les Battersby’s second wife after Janice.
But Jayne knew her time on the programme was up when Wendi decided to leave, and in the weeks before her final appearance, Yana admitted to Cilla that she slept with Les. However, Jayne, who has also appeared on Phoenix Nights and Happy Valley, has revealed that there were plans for her to come back for a major storyline involving Les (Bruce Jones) but they were scuppered when the actor was sensationally dismissed from the show.
Yana was the best friend of Cilla Battersby-Brown (pictured) and the pair often got up to no good together (Image: TV Grab)
Speaking on the Conversation Street podcast, she explained: “Cilla was the always in charge, she was the boss really. Yana did sleep with Les though! I can probably say this…after Wendi decided to leave, we were on the way to the Soap Awards and she said ‘I think it’s time to hang up Cilla’s stilettos,’ and I knew it was curtains for me really because I wasn’t really associated with any other family.
“She left. I just shuffled off and she did her final scenes. Then there was talk, they wanted to get me back to be in a relationship with Les, but Bruce got sacked. That happened, so it was really quite unfortunate.”
Jayne, who is married to former storyliner Mark Bickerton and also has a career as an artist, would like to return to the programme at some point, but as someone else. She said: “I’d like to go back as a completely different character, it’s been 20 years but I don’t know if you can.”
In March 2007, Bruce was suspended from the ITV show after reportedly getting drunk with an undercover journalist – letting slip future storylines on the show and making inappropriate comments. Bruce’s exit from Corrie was confirmed in May, when it was revealed he would be suspended from the show until his contract expired in September that year.
Jayne claimed that Yana was set to have a relationship with Les Battersby, but the plans had to be scrapped (Image: Press Association)
Les never received an on-screen exit storyline but his stepson Chesney confirmed his former father figure was alive and well, living in Dublin and working as a roadie with an Irish tribute band. After his dismissal from Corrie, Bruce went on to perform stand up comedy sets in Benidorm, before going on to enjoy stints on reality TV shows like Celebrity Wife Swap, alongside singer Sinitta, in 2008. Les was killed off last year off-screen, when the former taxi driver was said to have been involved in a freak accident at work, but Bruce alleged that show bosses simply told him this via email.
Jayne’s comments come just months after Wendi, who briefly returned to Coronation Street in 2014, spoke of how she had not necessarily been taken ‘seriously’ by the industry after making such a big impression as Cilla.
Speaking on the In The Frame podcast, she said: “It does change people’s perspective quite ridiculously of what you can do as an actor [Cilla] was such a big character that people saw me as that and still now people will say ‘Oh, you don’t talk like that!’ No, I don’t! It was a put-on voice.
The former Doctors star, who has returned to her roots in theatre with roles in productions of Sister Act and Glorious!, admitted: “I do think – and this is quite a controversial thing to say – but I do think that sometimes the industry doesn’t take soap actors seriously. There are certain things I’d love to be seen for and I would love to be doing, but I don’t get a look in. So, there are a few venues within London and up in Warwickshire that I don’t even get seen for.”
“It makes me upset and angry that they don’t realise what I’ve done and what I am capable of doing. And what I’ve done since – all these intimate venues and tours, plays and musicals. Read my CV, basically.”
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