Former Coronation Street star Tracie Bennett has shared some gruesome pictures, detailing the moment that she found herself in A&E with an infected finger.
The actress, 63, played Sharon Gaskell in 209 episodes of the ITV soap between 1982 and 2021.
Introduced as the foster daughter of Rita (Barbara Knox) and Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson), the teenager brought trouble to the cobbles throughout her initial nine month stint, though later departed for a new life in Sheffield.
On one occasion she tried to break up young couple Gail (Helen Worth) and Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quinten) after falling for the mechanic.
She was reintroduced following Len’s death the following year, and again in 1999 when she took over The Kabin. After marrying her unfaithful fiancé Ian Bentley (Jonathan Guy Lewis), she left again.
Three years ago, she staged a major return to torment Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson), under instruction from her nephew Harvey (Will Mellor).
In truly bizarre scenes she tasered Jenny Connor (Sally Ann Matthews) and later gave evidence against Harvey, sending him down for good and allowing her to take over his firm of gangsters.
Last week, she shared a horrific ordeal in her personal life after being hospitalised with an infected finger.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Tracie said: ‘Let’s count the hours from now of how long I’ll be in A&E with a seriously infected finger. Been on anti biotics since Monday but they haven’t worked. Ouch. Haven’t slept properly. Hoping it’s not long. Torture. Place your bets.’
She then became growingly frustrated with hospital waiting times, adding: ‘Being seen. Finally. All a nightmare. An x-ray and now they can’t even take blood cos they don’t know how or what they’re doing? Why? Just lance it? Hours of Agony.’
Fans rushed to support her, asking how the injury had been sustained. Tracie explained that she was uncertain.
One wrote: ‘Sending all the love Tracie! Hoping for a swift recovery…Rest, recuperate and relax xxx’
Another added: ‘It’s awful you had to go through all that! I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend. And with you 100% on not waiting if something’s wrong. Wishing you a speedy recovery.’
‘Finger getting blacker and blacker and the staff are saying to us that they have been changing the day to night shift for about 6 hours now’ she followed up.
‘Utter lies. The same people are all here. Just no one can be bothered. All sitting around doing nothing but lying. Agony Hell.’
Following up with a snap of her lay on a hospital bed awaiting surgery, she said she’d ‘got [her] sense of humour back’ and was taking joy out of an arrow drawn on her digit to indicate where the medical team had to operate.
Tracie explained she was ‘very scared’ and claims she could have lost her finger had she not acted quicker, urging those in a similar situation to head straight to A&E.
Aside from The Street, she has a lengthy stage career as well as roles in Shirley Valentine, The Bill, Heartbeat, and Casualty.
