Coronation Street legend Helen Worth - who plays soap icon Gail Platt - is getting ready for her final scenes on the cobbles this Christmas.
The 73-year-old is one of the ITV soap's longest-serving actors, having played the role of Gail for 50 years. Her very first appearance was back in 1974 and she's been a mainstay on our TV screens ever since. Over the years, unlucky-in-love Gail has had no less than five husbands - four of whom have died - including one notorious serial killer who tried to murder her entire family. This makes her soap's most married female character.
She also has three onscreen children, Nick, Sarah and David, and four grandchildren, Bethany, Harry, Max and Lily. But while she always has a house full on Corrie, off-screen Helen's life is a little different. In real-life Helen doesn't have any children of her own and she's only been married twice.
As Gail prepares to walk down the aisle for a sixth time - this time to wed Jesse Chadwick, played by Cold Feet star John Thomson - in special Coronation Street episodes to be aired over the festive period, we take a look at actor Helen's life away from the cameras.
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Getty Images)Two marriages - and famous husband
Helen has been married twice. Her first husband was actor Michael Angelis, who is best known for narrating the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends children's series. They were together from the mid 70s and finally tied the knot in 1991.
Their marriage came to an end in 2001. She later tied the knot with Trevor Dawson, who she met at a mutual friend's 90th birthday party. Deputy headmaster Trevor, who is seven years younger than Helen, claimed it was "love at first sight".
He had already been a fan before he met Helen, as he'd watched her character Gail on Corrie. The couple kept their romance secret for more than a year before getting married at St James's Church in London in 2012 in front of many of her Corrie co-stars.
The newlyweds were greeted by nearly 200 well-wishers who cheered as they emerged from the ceremony. Thanking her guests, Helen said: "It’s been the most fantastic day, it has exceeded all expectations. We are thrilled that so many of our friends and family could be here to celebrate with us."
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ITV)Cheating ex
Though Helen remained pals with first husband Michael, the reason they split was because he cheated on her.
Michael admitted that he had cheated on Helen in 1995, but she forgave him. However, their marriage came to an end 21 years later after Michael had a second affair with Welsh model Jennifer Khalastchi, who he later went on to marry.
Speaking to The Mirror in 2001, Helen admitted she felt like she was "drowning" after finding out about the betrayal and buried herself into work to try and get through it. She shared: "Nothing can ever prepare you for the day your husband sits you down and tells you he is having an affair. My marriage was everything to me. It was the foundation on which everything else was built. I had been with Michael for nearly half of my life. I never imagined that we wouldn't grow old together.
"When he told me, everything just went black. Things started to make sense. Maybe I realised right away that something like that had been bound to happen. Things hadn't been right for some time, but - naively maybe - I didn't think it was serious. I knew there was a problem. I just didn't know it was me."
Amazingly, Helen didn't hold a grudge against her ex-husband, remaining friends and regularly meeting up for lunch until his death in 2020. She said: "He was called a love rat and a cheat. But he wasn't. That's not how it was, things are never that easy. He just met someone who made him happier than I could. It wasn't a crime. It was just desperately sad.
"I know now that Michael suffered as much as I did. He still loved me when he left. It tore him apart that he was hurting me. He would never willingly have caused me pain. He is the gentlest man I know."
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ITV)Net worth and secret life in London
Having been in Corrie for so long and appeared in over 3,000 episodes, Helen is one of the soap's highest paid stars and reportedly takes home a £250,000 a year salary.
Though there's no reported net worth for Helen, she's easily one of TV's biggest paid actors. And instead of living in Manchester, where Coronation Street is filmed, she actually lives in London where she owns a house.
Despite being a northern girl at heart, having grown up in Morecambe, Lancashire, Helen enjoys a glitzy life in the capital and makes the lengthy commute to the set to film her scenes.
Speaking about how she switches off from the high drama Gail's character encounters on-screen, Helen once said: "I come home and see friends and go to the theatre. Luckily I find it quite easy to switch off – I'd be a nervous wreck if I didn't."
In 2014, she received the British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement and in 2022 she was awarded an MBE for her services to drama.
Real reason for leaving Coronation Street
Though Helen has said she 'loves' working on Corrie and called it 'the most wonderful job', in June 2024 she announced she would be leaving the famous cobbles at the end of the year.
She hasn't called it a retirement, but she is 73. Saying her 50-year anniversary on the show seemed like 'the perfect time to leave', she said in a statement: "This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world.
"I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding. I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in, week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew. The past 50 years have flown by and I don't think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet."
Fans will have to watch Corrie over Christmas to see how Gail's final scenes play out - will she or will she not marry Jesse? And will a fight break out at the wedding reception? As with all Gail's storylines, she's bound to go out with a bang...
Do you have a story to share? Email me at katie.wilson01@reachplc.com
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