Ford admits to Corrie funeral struggle

Coronation Street star Kate Ford has admitted that she tried to switch off her real-life emotions when she filmed her screen grandmother Blanche Hunt's funeral scenes.

The actress's jailed character Tracy Barlow will feature in the soap for the first time in three years next month when she is granted day release to pay her last respects to the Weatherfield battleaxe.

Blanche's death storyline was created by the serial's producers after Maggie Jones, who played the character from 1974, passed away following a period of ill health.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Ford explained: "I went to Maggie's funeral in London - that was beautiful. But for me, personally, I had to not think about Maggie when it was Blanche's funeral because that would have been too hard to get through the day.

"It was difficult because the photograph of Blanche was on the front of the coffin, which is obviously Maggie, and she's passed away. It was hard but I just tried to separate the two things."

Paying tribute to her former co-star, she added: "Maggie was just so dry and she had such a naughty sense of humour. I was quite shocked sometimes by some of the things that she would say. But she was really good fun. You could not forget Maggie. She had such spirit. And such a good actress as well."

> First Pics: Tracy's prison return in Corrie