West End star returns to Coronation Street and sparks explosive feud with fan favourite
After a year away from the cobbles, Ruthie Henshall is due to reprise her role in upcoming Coronation Street scenes, ruffling feathers along the way as she's set for a huge feud.
Estelle Harrington will make a spontaneous comeback to Coronation Street with Ruthie Henshall reprising the role one year after her last appearance.
The West End star, who has appeared in a plethora of productions in the likes of Crazy for You, Les Misérables and Chicago, made her debut in the ITV program in April, 2023, rocking up with an opportunity for Jodie Prenger’s Glenda Shuttleworth, with whom Estelle shares a long friendship after the pair met during a job on a cruise ship.
When she announced she was the co-owner of performing arts company Little Big Shotz, Glenda was keen to invest in the studio but when she learned she lacked the funds necessary, the Rovers barmaid turned to her brother, George (portrayed by Tony Maudsley), who lent her the money behind his partner Eileen Grimshaw’s back.
In upcoming scenes of the Manchester-based soap, airing next week, George and Glenda’s secret could come back to haunt them as Estelle is due to make her way back to Weatherfield. Upon her return, she offers her pal the option to buy Little Big Shotz from her – and George is not happy.
The siblings are known to share a close bond, fighting each other’s corners when times are tough but could Estelle drive a wedge between them?
While this remains to be seen, Ruthie looked back on her stint in Corrie last year and made it clear she was keen to return. “After the experience I’ve just had, yes I would [play Estelle again]”, she’d said. “I loved doing something different every day – it’s great for a girl whose attention span is not great.2
“In theatre I’ll rehearse a show for a month then I’m saying the same words eight shows a week. That is a kind of discipline – but in a soap it’s full-on if you’re in a developing storyline. The turnover is so fast”, Ruthie continued. She had then admitted she wanted her on-screen alter ego to undergo an ordeal of her own on the cobbles: “I want her marriage to break down, for her to get a love interest and cause a bit of trouble.”
But before Estelle can return to the Weatherfield cobbles and cause mischief, Corrie viewers remain deeply invested in the secrecy surrounding Lauren Bolton’s disappearance. The wayward teen vanished from the Street after being sacked from Roy Cropper’s Roy’s Rolls for trying to steal from a customer.
Her disappearance was reported by love interest Bobby Crawford but it was eventually reconsidered as a murder when Sean Tully found blood stains in Lauren’s flat. Although no body has yet been found, DS Swain has selected two suspects out of the many Weatherfield residents – Roy Cropper and Daniel Osbourne. But with villainous Nathan Curtis returning to the cobbles himself, there could be more to Lauren’s disappearance than meets the eye…