Corrie’s Blanche nearly axed

According to an article in The Sun Coronation Street’s Blanche Hunt, a popular character with viewers, was nearly axed by producers of the ITV soap.

An article in The Sun has claimed that Coronation Street producers recently considering axing the popular character of Blanche Hunt. Discussions over the characters future were apparently, according to the tabloid, discussed at a recent meeting about the future direction of the ITV soap. However, while the idea of writing the character out was discussed it was eventually decided the character still had plenty of potential.

“It has been seriously considered and discussed at our latest forward planning meeting that the character of Blanche should be killed off. But we appreciate she’s a great old, grumpy character and the chemistry between Blanche, the Barlow clan and the other street regulars is superb so we felt we had to keep her.” – An “insider” talking to The Sun.

Actress Maggie Jones has played the character of Blanche Hunt, on and off, since 1974. The actress took over the role of the outspoken Blanche after original actress Patricia Cutts committed suicide after a short time in the role. Jones’ Blanche Hunt was a regular cast member in the 1970s before leaving but returned occasionally before rejoining the cast on a permanent basis in the late 1990’s.