Denise Welch admits Corrie co-stars made ‘snippy comments’
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Loose Women panellist Denise Welch , 64, was left feeling “vulnerable” and “lonely” for the first – and last – time in her life after joining the cast of Coronation Street back in 1997. It was her most high-profile role to date, with almost half of the nation glued to their screens for the ITV soap, but behind the scenes Denise, who says she was never invited out by anyone, felt cripplingly alone.
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The TV star, who was initially cast for three months, but ended up staying for three years, discussed her reservations about the historic role on her podcast Juicy Crack.
Her guest, Below Deck’s Courtney Veale, admitted she’d once had “imposter syndrome” and felt like the odd one out among fellow reality show stars who had already met and become friends through the likes of Geordie Shore.
Relating to her experience, Denise chimed in: “I would honestly say that the first three or four months of Coronation Street were the only time I’ve ever been lonely in my life.”
“Nobody said: ‘Do you want to go out for a drink? Do you want to come for dinner?’
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Denise Welch felt “lonely” and “vulnerable” during her time on Coronation Street (Image: ITV)
Denise Welch’s character, Natalie Horrocks, had an onscreen affair with Michael Le Vell (Kevin) (Image: ITV)
“Everybody clocked out and went home [at the end of filming] and I remember thinking ‘I just don’t feel like I belong’.”
Denise added that, as “an actress who’d had a career before”, she felt that “a couple of people made sort of snippy comments at me”.
“I just felt so vulnerable… and a bit shy. I felt like it wasn’t the right place for me,” she lamented.
The star, who also went on to have a major role in Hollyoaks decades later, was being watched by “23 million people per episode” at the time – something which she was quick to point out no longer happens due to the diversity of channels that are now available.
Denise Welch with her onscreen love rival Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) on Coronation Street (Image: ITV)
Man-eating barmaid Natalie fought bitter battles with Sally on Coronation Street (Image: ITV)
“[Those viewing figures] are now incomprehensible to any of us, no matter what level we are,” she mused.
The sheer volume of viewers added to her tension, as she looked at famous characters such as Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, and Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth, who she’d known from TV since she was “six years old”.
“It’s like trying to be friends with people and them not letting you into the gang,” she continued on the podcast.
Meanwhile, Denise would sit in hotel bars reading a newspaper in an attempt to look busy and “pretending I was waiting for someone… hoping someone I knew would come in”.
Nowadays she looks back and cringes: “What a saddo!” but at the time her loneliness felt very real to her.
She added that “nobody [on the soap] lived anywhere other than Manchester or Cheshire [and] they’d all been there for what I thought was 100 years”.
Meanwhile, Denise, who played Kevin Webster’s mistress, Natalie Horrocks, on the iconic show, had an on-screen reputation as a man-eater – but she insisted that, behind the scenes, no-one had made her feel lonely “deliberately”.
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