Coronation Street Claire Sweeney's huge fear over outrageous Ken Barlow twist

Claire Sweeney is one of the most popular actresses in soap. She’s long had a reputation for being down-to-earth, instantly likeable and the type of celeb who’ll happily stop for a picture with fans.

But thanks to her latest Coronation Street storyline, she’s now bracing herself for a whole lot of hate. And she reckons even her boyfriend, retired boxer Ricky Hatton, won’t be able to stop the onslaught.

For her character, carer Cassie Plummer, is about to become one of the most despised soap names in Britain after viewers saw her poisoning true Cobbles icon Ken Barlow in the closing seconds of Monday night's episode.

Ken, played by the legendary Bill Roache, ends up being rushed to hospital after Cassie laces his tea with a near fatal mix of painkillers and blood thinners - and the mystery behind his brush with death is set to be one of the biggest storylines from now into next year.

Claire, 53, is preparing to face the full fury of viewers, but admits she was outraged herself when bosses first let slip about her gruesome plot.

“Oh my God, I was shocked!,” she laughs. “I was talking to the producer and it was casually mentioned to me and then the conversation carried on. I went: ‘What? Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I’m poisoning a national treasure; did I hear that right?’ I could hardly believe it!”

Claire adds: “It’s Ken Barlow! I’m going to be Public Enemy No 1! Even my boyfriend can’t defend me on this one! Viewers are going to hate her. The funny thing is that they’ve just started to like her – they were finally warming to her – and then this happens.

“In my head, playing her, I’m trying to find saving graces, but I don’t know if there will be any. I’m a Corrie fan and I’d be fuming watching this!”

Actor Bill Roache, 92, has played Ken Barlow for 64 years and is the only remaining cast member from the show’s very first episode. Former Brookside star Claire loves working with him, calling it an “absolute dream” - but she also knows firsthand just how loyal and passionate his fanbase can be.

“Already in the summer when I went on holiday to Majorca, all the old dears were saying to me: ‘You leave Ken alone,’ ‘Don’t you be upsetting Ken now.’ And that was before I’d done anything!,” she laughs.

Claire joined the show last year as rough-and-ready Cassie, the long lost daughter of Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman) and the mother of Tyrone Dobbs (I'm a Celeb's Alan Halsall). A former drug addict, with greasy hair and black rings under her eyes, it’s probably the least glamorous role the actress has ever taken on.

Indeed, she often looks so bad, she’s even banned her boyfriend, Ricky, 46, who she met on last year’s Dancing On Ice, from tuning in. “He doesn’t watch, I won’t let him!” she laughs. “Especially when I was looking really really rough. I get embarrassed, so I won’t let him!”

Claire confesses she “doesn’t like watching” herself either. Yet performing is in her blood. The Liverpool-born actress landed her first singing gig at 14, joined the popular Liverpool soap Brookside as Lindsey Corkhill at 20 and has worked regularly ever since, topping the bill in the West End and appearing in a host of TV shows, including two years as a panellist on Loose Women and also as the host of 60-Minute Makeover.

In recent years she has mainly toured in theatre, juggling life on the road with her role as a single mum to son Jaxon, now 10. The Coronation Street role she admits came at a time when she thought her TV work could be over.

“Maybe two years ago I thought I’d had the best days of my career,” she says frankly. “My agent used to say to me: ‘your turn will come again,’ but when you’ve been treading water for so many years you never see it.

“I was plodding along doing nice work in theatre, schlepping around the country, living in dressing rooms and being away from Jaxon for long periods. Then Corrie happened and Dancing on Ice happened and suddenly I’m in a different place.

“When Corrie offered me the role, I just felt so grateful and thrilled at 51 years of age to have this opportunity. It’s an institution. People sometimes say that as an actress you struggle as you get older, whereas I feel this is probably the best thing I’ve ever done.”

The other big change in Claire’s life is her relationship with former world champion fighter Ricky Hatton, having been single for several years. “It happens when you least expect it,” she reflects.

The two fell for each other when they appeared as contestants on Dancing on Ice earlier this year. So, what did Claire take away from the TV ice-skating contest?

“A boyfriend and a sore bum!” she laughs. “I did think I’d get a skater’s bum and I’d lose loads of weight. That didn’t happen, but I loved the whole experience. Ricky and I went out with his skating partner and one of the skaters recently and I’ve been talking to Sam Aston [Corrie’s Chesney Brown] who is doing it this year; I feel very invested in the show.

“I’m looking forward to going to skate on all the Christmas ice rinks too. I haven’t skated since the show so I don’t know how good I’ll be, but I’ll be better than Ricky!”

The couple have enjoyed holidays together and recently attended the Football for Change gala where Claire looked stunning in a plunging silver designer dress. “I love getting glammed up,” she smiles. “I’ve always been pretty glam – I take pride in my appearance and I like being dressed up.”

Claire stays in Liverpool when she’s filming at Coronation Street, but lives in London with son Jaxon. She says: “When I’m in Manchester I get a bit more of a social life, then once I’m in London, it’s the school run and I’m quite happy to stay in with Jaxon. I like to make it really special when we’re together.”

Jaxon regularly helps Claire practise her lines, but even he is struggling to defend his mum’s latest storyline. “He’s horrified,” Claire laughs. “He says: ‘Mummy, you’re not going to hurt this man, are you?’ I explained that she likes him really and he said: ‘But Mummy, I’ve just read the script.’ In the end I said: ‘Oh Jaxon, just do the lines, don’t worry about it, it’s only pretend!’”

Viewers have seen a gentler side to Cassie recently after Ken hired her as his carer following a nasty fall in the summer. The duo unexpectedly hit it off and have become good friends, but returning from a holiday together, Ken tells Cassie that he’s been looking at his finances and is going to have to let her go. It’s then that a fuming Cassie laces his tea with painkillers.

“She doesn’t want to hurt him – she just wants him to need her,” Claire explains. “She adores Ken. So, when he says he can’t afford to keep her on she’s devastated – where’s she going to go?, what’s she going to do? Who is she going to be with? There’s anger, hurt and a feeling of abandonment.

“It’s not even necessarily money-orientated. She likes the life she’s got looking after him. There’s an element of Munchausen’s to it.”

When Ken suffers a nosebleed and is rushed to hospital, his daughter Tracy and son-in-law Steve blame Cassie for mixing up his tablets, but when Toyah Battersby intervenes and says the drugs overdose might not have been Cassie’s fault, Ken insists she returns to work and offers her a raise.

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Cassie can’t believe her luck, but her wicked games are not over. Claire says: “She Googles ‘drugs that make you drowsy’ and comes across antihistamines. She’s realised the consequences of the painkillers and the blood thinners, so she switches to antihistamines, because they’re not as harmful. She doesn’t want to hurt him. It’s just to keep him a little bit dopey, so he needs her.

“She’s [been] introduced into this new life with him and she will go to any lengths to keep it going.”

All we can say is....It’s lucky for Ricky, she’s not a method actor.