Stephanie Beacham 'may return to Coronation St'

Stephanie Beacham 'may return to Coronation St'
Stephanie Beacham 'may return to Coronation St'

Stephanie Beacham has hinted that she may return to Coronation Street as Ken Barlow's jilted lover Martha Fraser. The former Dynasty star was last seen disappearing on her canal boat after Ken chickened out of leaving with her at the last minute. But Stephanie says that she's been approached by the ITV's soaps producers about making a comeback. "The producers are interested in bringing Martha back so I may well be returning to the Street," she said. However, the 62-year-old admits that she not entirely sure that the eccentric actress would give Ken another chance. "Martha was a very strong woman and I personally feel like she had too much dignity to go back to Ken after the way he ended things between them," she said. "She is such a great character to play and I have a lot of respect for her, I think she's very graceful." Despite previously appearing in Dynasty and The Colbys, Stephanie says that her time in Coronation Street was one of the highlights of her career. "The show is watched by so many people that I felt privileged to be a part of it," she said. "I'm always being approached by young fans now and they don't care that I played a bitch in Hollywood 3,000 years ago. They only know me as Martha, and that's fine by me." A Coronation Street spokeswoman said: "There are no plans for the character of Martha to return at the moment." Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's new weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

Patrick McLennan

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.