Sacha Parkinson shot to fame playing Sophie Webster's girlfriend Sian Powers in Coronation Street - but the star of Channel 4's The Mill has revealed she has no interest in returning to life as a soap actor.
"My whole reason for leaving was that I wanted to do different roles," says Sacha, who's back on our screens as mill worker Miriam Caterall in the second series of the hit historical drama.
Sacha starred as Sophie's lesbian lover from 2009 until her departure in 2011 but said seeing herself in the gossip pages of the tabloids made her want to leave the ITV soap.
"I really enjoyed my time on Corrie but it does become about what you're doing as a person and not the job or your character's storylines. I don't think I'd go back."
"I'd done plenty of work before Coronation Street so I knew what it was like to do a job and not work for a few weeks, read a script, go to an audition and get excited for things. I'm glad I had that experience."
Yet Sacha - who'll be joining ITV drama Mr Selfridge for the upcoming third series - reveals that despite not being on the Corrie set anymore, she is still pesters best friend Brooke Vincent, who played her on-screen girlfriend Sophie, for gossip.
"I do try and get things out of her but she doesn't know anything," says Sacha. "She loves her job but she's done it so long now that I don't think she's too bothered with all that!"
The second series of The Mill starts on Sunday July 20 at 9pm on Channel 4.
