Why being diagnosed as autistic when I reached 67 explained everything

After a lifetime of frustrations, impatience and even occasional meltdowns, Coronation Street star Shelley King reveals the sheer relief of finally understanding the intricacies of her own mind

- Sue Crawford

CORONATION Street actress Shelley King never understood why she found last-minute script changes and unexplained plot twists difficult to adapt to when she was at work.

While her fellow cast members seemed to accept them without batting an eyelid, Shelley often found them upsetting and frustrating.

But after she was diagnosed with autism at the age of 67 last year, things fell into place and she spoke to the show's producers who offered to find ways to help.

"I need a plan," explains Shelley, who plays restaurant owner Yasmeen Nazir. "In theatre you have a set text and you say the same things every performance, but at Coronation Street the lines might change suddenly.

Scripts might be altered at the last minute and if I couldn't see the logic of those changes, it would upset me." Feeling frustrated and confused, Shelley would often seek out the show's script editors to clarify her character's motives.

"It took up a lot of time and I was aware that I needed a very strong back story for Yasmeen, so that the writers could refer to this when coming up with storylines.

"What the producer encouraged me to do was write my character's history and I said to them, 'Please try to stay within that.' Because of that history, if I can identify the specific reason for something that Yasmeen is doing or saying, it helps me." It was at this point that Shelley, now 68, sought a diagnosis for autism.

She was tested last year. And, speaking for the first time since her diagnosis, she pays tribute to the show for its support after she spoke to producer Iain MacLeod and cast mates including Bill Fellows (screen partner Stu Carpenter) and Sair Khan (screen granddaughter Alya).

Frustration