Entertainment

Helen Lederer eyes second date with Ken Barlow after Corrie cameo

She is hoping to make a return to the soap.

Helen Lederer appeared in Coronation Street recently
Helen Lederer appeared in Coronation Street recently (Dominic Lipiniski/PA)

Actress and comedian Helen Lederer has said she is hoping to make a return to Coronation Street and was “honoured” to get the call for her recent cameo.

The Absolutely Fabulous star made her first appearance on the soap last month as a love interest of Ken Barlow, played by veteran actor William Roache, 91.

Lederer, 69, popped up in a hotel bar at a singles night, where Ken was accompanying Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), who was on the lookout for a new romantic partner.

Lederer’s character Elspeth took a shine to Ken and now Lederer hopes there will be a chance of a second encounter.

She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “It was an honour, obviously to get the call. He (Ken) is so upright.”

Asked if she likes older men, she replied: “I like allcomers. I don’t divide. But I do like an upright human. And he’s very upright for his age, which is 90-plus with lovely hair.”

She added jokingly: “I saw Dr Hilary (Jones, the GMB doctor) earlier and I gave him my card. And I saw him put it in his pocket and I’ve pulled again.

“You’ve got to follow through. You can’t just go hey, let’s see if he follows through. But also, upright.

“I’m hoping I might go back to Coronation Street for a second date and follow through, in a casual way as an older person.

“When you want a job, you don’t get one and when you stop looking you bump into them immediately because you’re not looking.

“So that’s when the call came for Corrie, because I didn’t say please might I be on Corrie, because I think that’s needy, but it just came in.”

Discussing filming with Roache, she said: “What I liked is a little chat with him before we did our scene together, we talked about Scrabble, he likes Scrabble, we talked about board games.”