I'll be Public Enemy No1 after poisoning Ken Barlow, he's á national treasure ..I'm a Corrie fan and I'd be fuming watching it too!

ACTRESS Claire Sweeney has a reputation for being down-toearth, instantly likeable and the type of celebrity who will happily stop for a selfie with a fan.

- SUE CRAWFORD

But after viewers saw her Coronation Street character Cassie poison Ken Barlow last night, she is braced for a backlash.

Claire, 53, says: “It’s Ken Barlow, he’s a national treasure. I’m going to be Public Enemy No1.”

The star, who is dating boxing legend Ricky Hatton, 46, adds, laughing: “Even my boyfriend can’t defend me on this one.”

Ken , playe d by 92-year-old Bill Roache, is rushed to hospital after his carer Cassie laces his tea with a near-fatal mix of painkillers and blood thinners.

Claire admits she was outraged herself when bosses first let slip about the gruesome plot.

She says: “Oh, my God, I was shocked.

“I was talking to the producer and it was casually mentioned to me and then the conversation carried on.

“I went, ‘What? Whoa. Whoa. I’m poisoning a national treasure – did I hear that right?’ Viewers are going to hate her.

“The funny thing is they’ve just started to like her, they were finally warming to her, then this.

“In my head, playing her, I’m trying to find saving graces but I don’t know if there will be any. I’m a Corrie fan and I’d be fuming watching this.”

Viewers have seen a gentler side to Cassie since Ken hired her as his carer following a nasty fall in the summer.

They have become good friends but returning from a holiday together, Ken tells Cassie he has been looking at his finances and will have to let her go.

It’s then that a fuming Cassie laces his tea. Claire says: “She doesn’t want to hurt him, she just wants him to need her. She adores Ken.

“So, when he says he can’t afford to keep her on, she’s devastated – where’s she going to go, what’s she going to do? There’s anger, hurt.”