Corrie to break new ground with Izzy pregnancy
Coronation Street is to break new ground by featuring a pregnancy for wheelchair-bound character Izzy Armstrong. The disabled factory worker, played by Cherylee Houston, discovers that she is carrying boyfriend Gary Windass's baby in July, it is understood. It would be the first storyline of its type in the ITV1 soap's history, and TV bosses plan to get every detail right by doing their research. "Corrie has never shied away from tackling sensitive storylines. It is very clear that this is a sensitive subject and it will be treated as such," a source told the Daily Mirror. "They will make sure they establish exactly what complications could occur during the pregnancy and how likely it is the baby could inherit Izzy's condition. Cherylee is absolutely thrilled that she is being allowed to take on such a challenging plot," the insider added. Cherylee, who joined Coronation Street in 2010 after appearing in Little Britain, Emmerdale and Holby City, suffers from rare connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which leaves her using a wheelchair like her soap alter-ego.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.