STREET CRED :'SAYING GOODBYE WAS JUST SO OVERWHELMING'

AS CORRIE'S EMMA BROOKER PREPARES TO LEAVE WEATHERFIELD, ACTRESS ALEXANDRA MARDELL TALKS ABOUT FUTURE ROLES, WEDDING PLANS AND WHY HER SCREEN DAD IS A NIGHTMARE TO WORK WITH

- TRICIA MARTIN

When we meet actress Alexandra Mardell for a chat about life after Coronation Street, we V V soon discover she is just as smiley and bubbly as her on-screen alter ego, Emma Brooker.

As well as throwing herself into auditioning for new roles, the 28-year-old, known as Ali, has been busy planning her wedding with fiancé Joe Parker. The couple, who met at drama school and got engaged in 2021, will tie the knot next year.

"Everything's going off all at once. I love that. It's very me, everything at once," she says. "But yeah, the wedding plans are a lot more successful than Emma's were, anyway. We've still got over a year yet, so I'm just kind of doing it a little step at a time. I'm very excited."

But while she's buzzing with thoughts of her wedding, plenty of tears were shed when it came to saying goodbye to her Corrie friends, including her screen family the McDonalds.

Emma's first major storyline revealed that the dad she had just lost was really her stepfather and she was in fact the child of Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and Fiona Middleton (Angela Griffin).

"That was the cherry on top of the cake, because I was already so thrilled to be there, and then to be thrust into an iconic family like that... I'm really pleased it was that particular family because working with them, with Kate Ford [Tracey] and Simon, they're just such good fun. I've had an amazing time being surrounded by them, making me laugh all the time."

Indeed, joining the McDonald clan can be a mixed blessing for an actor, as Simon has a reputation for making the cast crack up during filming.