LUCY'S REBELSTREAK - Coro straightened me out!

THE POPULAR STAR REVEALS WHY SHE’S LEAVING THE SHOW

- LARA KILNER

Life could have been very different for Lucy Fallon had she not received the call from Coronation Street that would change her life.

She was just a teen at the time and “going through a stage” when her life suddenly took a different direction that the now 24-year-old couldn’t be more grateful for.

As the young actress bids farewell to Coro – one of several big-name actresses to leave the show lately − she says taking on the role of Bethany Platt has been a wonderful ride.

“I’ll miss her; I kind of merge with her,” says Lucy, looking so fresh-faced she could easily pass for 17. “She is fun and cocky and annoying, but also vulnerable and came out the other side of her experiences really strong. She’s not just a pint in-the-Rovers sort of person.”

Lucy isn’t kidding. Far from being a slightly wayward teen whose most scandalous storyline could well have been skiving off school to get chips, Bethany was involved in a shocking narrative where she was groomed and raped by older boyfriend Nathan, not to mention becoming a lap dancer, falling in love with her mum’s boyfriend, and now her controversial relationship with Daniel, whose wife Sinead has only recently passed away.

She’s packed a lot into her time, and Lucy is now ready (as she’ll ever be) for new pastures.

When we meet, she’s recently filmed her final scenes. Only time will tell whether she follows in the footsteps of the likes of Suranne Jones, Katherine Kelly and Michelle Keegan to go on to great things, but she’s a cracking actor and is going to give it a damned good go.

Lucy, who lives with boyfriend Tom Leech in her hometown of Blackpool, talks about being too scared to talk to anyone on set at first, terrible jobs and how getting the part on Coro straightened her out when she went off the rails..