Joanna Lumley 'would love Corrie return'

Joanna Lumley has revealed that she would "love" to return to Coronation Street.

The actress had a brief stint in the ITV1 soap in 1973 as Elaine Perkins, who was pursued by Ken Barlow (William Roache).

Lumley hinted that she nearly returned for her character to have an affair with Ken, but was too busy at the time. Stephanie Beacham was eventually cast as Ken's mistress.

"I'd love to [return]," she told Holy Soap. "I nearly did a couple of years ago, but I was filming. They had to do the story they were going to do with someone coming in and stealing Ken Barlow's heart and them having a wild affair.

"I thought 'Make it me! Make it be the girl he once proposed to!', but I couldn't do it."

She added: "I loved doing that show. I was there at the time with all the great, great people - Elsie Tanner, Ena Sharples, Annie Walker."

Rock band Status Quo have also stated their desire to return to the show, following their 2005 cameo.

Lumley recently announced that she will film new episodes of Absolutely Fabulous later this year.