Joanna Lumley was told she was "too posh" to go in the Rovers Return when she starred on 'Coronation Street'.
Joanna Lumley
The 72-year-old actress portrayed Ken Barlow's (Bill Roache) love interest Elaine Perkins for eight episodes in 1973, but when she asked to go in the famous fictional pub, she was told her alter-ego would be far to upmarket to step foot in the backstreet boozer, so her character had to remain at home sipping sherry.
She said: "All I remember is that I said, 'Can I go to the Rovers Return?' And they said, 'No, you're too posh.'
"So I said, 'What do I do?' They said, 'You stay at home and drink a sherry, because that's a posher drink. Then when Ken comes around, to show you're brainy you can be picking apart a transistor radio and putting it together again.'
"That's all I remember, except I had to say when Ken said, 'Will you marry me?' And I [Elaine] said 'no, because I don't want to stay in Coronation Street'.
"And I said, 'Please don't make me say that. Please, I want to do this job. I really want a long-term part in this lovely show.'
"They said, 'No, you're just doing it for eight episodes.' "
While Joanna was asked back 35 years later, she had to decline the offer due to other work commitments.
Speaking at The Edinburgh International Television Festival in Scotland, she added: "Ken Barlow's wife had just had a tragic end, she'd electrocuted herself on a hair dryer, and Ken was a bit in rags. He'd fallen for the headmaster's daughter Elaine.
"Many years later, 35 years later, they said, 'Will you come back and break Ken's heart again?'
"I went, 'You bet,' but I couldn't."
The 'Absolutely Fabulous' writer recently admitted she took on the 'Corrie' role 45 years ago because she was "skint".
She explained: "I was absolutely skint, and then I was brought up to 'Coronation Street' to be Ken Barlow's girlfriend. And, what's more, he was going to ask me to marry him!
"I thought, I shall be in 'Coronation Street' for 15 years."
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