Coronation Street icon comes out of retirement – decades after quitting soap

A Coronation Street icon has decided to return to the limelight after quitting the soap 26 years ago.

Fans have been left delighted actress Thelma Barlow is making a comeback to acting. The actress is best known for playing Mavis Wilton in the ITV soap. She is now set to star in a short film at the age of 95. Thelma has signed up for Sleepless In Settle, which follows a mother trying to find a wife for her son.

The TV star has also acted in BBC sitcom Dinnerladies and said of her new role: “It was three action-packed days. It took me right back to my early days of rep theatre.” She was reunited with former co-star Judy Flynn, who wrote and directed the short film. Judy revealed how she got Thelma out of retirement as she said: “We met again at her 90th birthday party and I asked if I could write something specifically for her and she agreed.

“Filming with Thelma was a total joy. She had so much energy and was full of ideas.” Thelma’s character Mavis became known for delivering simple but hilarious lines as she worked in The Kabin. She would appear alongside pal Rita, who was played by Barbara Knox.

Thelma held her role on Coronation Street until 1997. She was reunited with Barbara last year as she celebrated her 90th birthday at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park. They had an emotional reunion together as they marked the special occasion. A rose was named in her honour to mark her milestone birthday.

Their reunion was filmed for an ITV documentary. Barbara was over the moon to be back together with her on-screen best pal, and said it had been “magnificent” to see her again. “She was the best partner I could ever have had,” Barbara told the Manchester Evening News. She fondly recalled they “went everywhere together” and were “great friends”.

“We really were good friends as well as acting together so well. We’ve kept in touch over the years and thank god she looks so well,” she added. Barbara even teased the possibility of the former double act getting back together, and revealed she would welcome her back with open arms.

“I would love Mavis back, like a shot,” she smiled. Back in 2020, Thelma told The Mirror she feared Corrie had lost the warmth and gentle comedy it had in her day as storylines become ever more gruesome. She said: “I think the Street when I was in it had this wonderful thing of comedy, the comedy characters.

“I don’t watch it regularly now. I occasionally have a look but I don’t see much to laugh at now. I think it’s a shame. We used to get scripts where you’d talk about nothing important at all, nothing to do with the plot, but they could be so real and so funny. It was normal conversation without having great meaning and drama to it.”