Coronation Street filming ground to a halt when the cast uncovered a hoard of official paperwork in one of the props.

While filming scenes in the Underworld knicker factory, some of the cast, including Vicky Entwhistle (Janice Battersby) and Antony Cotton (Sean Tully), couldn't believe their eyes when somebody on set brought the stash to everyone's attention.

A filing cabinet, which contained hundreds of official ITV financial documents, failed to be checked when it was brought in from ITV's headquarters in Manchester.

A show source told The Sun: "It was hilarious — one minute it was just a normal day, the next everyone was in hysterics. Everyone was diving in to see if there was anything about someone they knew."

"Some of the expenses claims were pretty shocking - there were some for bar bills at the BAFTA awards that ran into thousands. Nobody could get any work done. They were too busy gossiping about it."

A Coronation Street spokeswoman added: "Some old Granada papers dating back to the 1990s were used to depict documents from the Underworld office. They’ve been removed."