When you get older your body changes, IT'SADAILY BATTLE"

Dancing on Ice and Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney on love, work and wanting to go into the jungle

- GEMMA CALVERT

Dancing on Ice signals the arrival of a new year and for actor and 2024 contestant Claire Sweeney, a whole lot of gratitude.

'Being on Dancing on Ice is great and it feels good to be kicking off 2024 with a bang. At 52, I feel like I've had a third bite at the career cherry,' says the former Brookside actor, who joined Coronation Street last June and recently starred in Channel 5 drama The Good Ship Murder - her first big TV roles following a decade touring in West End musicals.

Of her role on the ITV soap, playing Cassie Plummer, Tyrone's mum, she adds, 'Getting back to doing serious acting really feeds my soul.' Claire, who lives in London with her son Jaxon, 9, is juggling Corrie and Dancing on Ice training with American pro-skater Colin Grafton, but her hectic schedule follows some festive family time.

Here Claire shares her new year wishes, reveals she's been cautious in love since splitting from Jaxon's dad, her ex-fiancé Daniel Reilly, and shares why her Corrie co-star Dame Maureen Lipman has captured her heart.

Claire, how does it feel to be on Dancing on Ice?

I'm not going to lie and say I love every second of it! Sometimes I'm riddled with fear. Today, I was swung around by the wrists and wanted to cry. I said, 'It should be fun and this is traumatising!'