Corrie bosses deny character cost cuts

Coronation Street executives have denied reports that characters have been axed from the show in order to cut back on costs.

A tabloid newspaper today claimed that Sharon Duce, Sophiya Haque and Pattie Clare - who play Weatherfield's Paula Carp, Poppy Morales and Mary Taylor - had been given the boot from the show due to financial reasons.

However, Corrie producers this afternoon insisted that the departing characters were only ever intended to remain with the show for the duration of their ongoing storylines, which all happen to come to an end within the next few weeks.

A show spokesperson said: "The affected actors were all involved in storylines that were due to run for a finite time. If every new character stayed in the show, the Street would be a little crowded to say the least."

Paula's storyline reaches its climax on May 22, while Poppy and Mary leave on June 8 and May 15 respectively.

Other actors departing at the end of their current storyline arc include Colin Grimshaw (Edward de Souza), Tara Mandal (Ayesha Dharker) and the as-yet-unseen Ramsay Clegg (Andrew Sachs).

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