Coronation Street fan favourite ‘quits’ soap after three years amid shock ITV cast cull
A beloved Coronation Street star has reportedly quit the ITV soap after three years
Coronation Street actress has departed the soap after merely three years on the cobbles, it has been reported.
Channique Sterling-Brown, 28, who portrays Dee Dee Bailey, will shoot her concluding scenes later this month, though viewers will continue to see her on their screens through to year’s end.
A source revealed to Express.co.uk: “Posters are up around the Corrie set behind the scenes, it is common knowledge that Channique is going, and cast have been informed.” The actress is understood to be departing to pursue ventures beyond the soap opera.
She becomes the most recent cast member to bid farewell to the programme, joining a string of departures over the past 12 months. Charlotte Jordan (Daisy Midgeley), Colson Smith (Craig Tinker), Sally-Ann Matthews (Jenny Connor), Sue Cleaver (Eileen Grimshaw) and Shelley King (Yasmeen Nazir) have all made their exits.
Daniel Brocklebank, who has portrayed Billy Mayhew for the past 11 years, is also set to leave the soap later this year.
She also claimed Best Newcomer at the Inside Soap Awards that year and received a nomination in the Rising Star category at the 28th National Television Awards.
Coronation Street marked Channique’s debut television role after missing out on the part of Naomi Walters to Karene Peter in ITV’s other enduring soap Emmerdale. Within six months of her debut on screen she scooped the 2023 British Soap Award for Best Newcomer.
Since joining the programme she has been central to some major storylines. Her character’s tight bond with Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) saw her play a crucial role in his MND storyline when she became the first person he confided in about his diagnosis, reports the Express.
Most notably Dee Dee was engaged to fellow solicitor Joel Deering (Callum Lil). He turned out to have groomed teenager Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) who then disappeared.
The news comes after Sally Ann’s character Jenny Bradley departed the soap on October 1 after 39 years in emotional scenes, with the ITV veteran deciding to start a new life in Tenerife. While some fans were disappointed with the understated exit for such a cherished character, Sally Ann spoke out on Instagram, saying:
“I know people have said, because I’ve seen it already today on Twitter, people going: ‘Oh she should have had a bigger exit.’
She insisted: “I loved Jenny’s exit”, and expressed her desire for it to be ‘low-key’. Sally-Ann continued: “Yeah, yeah, completely. And it’s also, they don’t do exit stories anymore, unless you’re going to die.” “All the audience research, apparently, so I’ve been told, is that if they know that a character is leaving – the audience, then they don’t invest in the storyline. So unless they’re going to kill you, you don’t get one, because they just go: ‘We know she’s leaving.'”
“So that’s why pretty much everybody, I think it was the same with Shelley [King, who played Yasmeen Nazir], it was pretty much the same with Sue [Cleaver, who played Eileen Grimshaw].”
“Well, ultimately the thing of just starting again in pastures new, you know, it’s like everyone emigrates within 24 hours, and I think I emigrated within about an hour!”