It's not just on the cobbles where you'll soon be seeing Claire Sweeney as she's also taking to the ice. The actress is among the 12 famous faces to have signed up for Dancing on Ice this year and will be joined by former Corrie alumni Ryan Thomas.
Claire, who is currently playing Cassie Plummer in the ITV soap, recently explained why she said yes to the show as she told Prima magazine: "I wanted to challenge myself. You get little vulnerabilities and anxieties with menopause and you start to lose your bottle as you get older, so I want to conquer some fears and get my confidence and chutzpah back."
She added: "It’s going to be good for me. When I stepped onto the ice for the first time, I had this feeling of euphoria. It was such an adrenaline rush, I loved it – how great at 52 years of age."
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But she has recently shared a fear that her Corrie character may not help her out during her new challenge as she confessed her trouble-maker alter-ego may impact whether ITV soap fans will want to keep her on the ice. She said: "My character is a bit unpleasant at times, so I don't know how that'll affect me with the judging and voting! With my character everything comes from good but then things go wrong for her!"
Claire made her debut on the cobbles back in June. Her casting was revealed in April and a couple of months later she was making her debut as Tyrone Dobbs' real mum and the daughter of Evelyn Plummer. Cassie tracked down her mum to the street but when Evelyn spotted her, she ignored her. But later, Evelyn received a call and was seen hurrying into A&E reception, explaining that her daughter has been admitted as an emergency after she overdosed.
The pair then entered into an emotional confrontation as Cassie revealed she knew that she was living with Tyrone and had been keeping him from her for all these years. And things reached a heartbreaking climax when Evelyn emotionally confessed that Tyrone thinks his mum is dead. Cassie later revealed her identity to Tyrone and has since made herself part of his and his children's lives.
After a fraught start to their reunion, Evelyn and Cassie have become as thick as thieves with Cassie helping her mum try and bring down a cruel puppy farmer. But at the same time, she's also been sneakily meddling in Kevin and Abi Webster's relationship.
Before making her on-screen debut, Claire, who shot to fame playing Lindsey Corkhill in the Scouse soap Brookside, shared how it was her dream to star in Corrie and shared how ‘reality struck’ about her return to the small screen when she arrived at the Salford-based set.
"The funny thing is, having done the audition from the safety of my bedroom, reading with my mate, I felt really safe," she told the Manchester Evening News. "I wasn’t nervous or anything but then to suddenly turn up at Coronation Street and I walked in and I saw the cobbles and my stomach [flipped].
"I suddenly got this flip in my stomach and I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s Coronation Street. It’s real!’ You go in the building and the first thing you see is a massive picture of Ena Sharples and it suddenly hit me, the reality of it. I’m a massive Corrie fan, I’ve grown up watching Corrie. It’s been a part of our household since I was a kid and to suddenly be there and see it, reality struck home."
And during her first few appearances, Claire stunned fans with her drastically different look. As she appeared on-screen for the first time as drug addict Cassie, @Bob71136804 summed up the transformation. as he said: "Blimey is that Claire Sweeney? She’s looked better." @Samanth22356123 tweeted: "Seems weird seeing Claire Sweeney not all glammed up!!!" @teenamassam added: "Claire Sweeney is usually so glamorous… #Corrie."
But Claire, jokingly, told us she found the change for her role 'traumatic'. "It wasn't much, that's how I wake up in a morning," the star laughed when asked how long it takes to become Cassie and how much she has been involved in the makeup and costume side of her new character.
"They've done a fantastic job," Claire added. "With my hair, she oiled it down and sprayed black on the roots. Also, I had to get my nails off. Being a scouse and getting my nails and lashes off, that's quite traumatic you know, " she said with a laugh.
As for Claire's life before Corrie, she was born in Walton, Liverpool, and trained at the Elliott-Clarke Theatre School in the city and worked at weekends in her father's butchers shop. Her first singing gig was at the age of 14 in the Montrose Club in Liverpool, for which she was paid £25. She was then educated full-time at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.
She landed her first major role in Brookside, initially as a recurring character from 1991 and then as a leading character from 1995 until the programme ended in 2003. From then on her career went from strength to strength with a few more TV appearances under her belt, both as an actress and as a presenter, while also carving out a successful theatre career starring in the likes of Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde, Educating Rita and numerous pantomimes.
Away from her career, 52-year-old Claire is a doting single mum to her son, Jaxon. The eight-year-old has largely been kept out of the limelight by his mum but recently appeared in a photoshoot with her for OK! Magazine. "He just makes me laugh so much," Claire told the publication. "He gives me so much affection and love. He’s such a sensitive kid."
Claire split from Jaxon’s dad Daniel Reilly in 2015. The pair had become engaged on Christmas Eve in 2012, with Daniel, who is 14 years Claire's junior, presenting the soap star with a three-carat diamond ring in a romantic proposal. But they sadly split just nine months after the birth of their first child.
Claire lives with Jaxon in Liverpool after purchasing the luxury pad when she was in Brookside. The living room, which boasts stunning city and waterside views, is immaculately decorated and the white walls are broken up with some decorative purple and gold wallpaper with a deep purple corner sofa in addition to some lavish purple curtains.
The home also has high ceilings, white and exposed brickwork while the bedroom features a high 7ft bed. And as a proud Liverpudlian, Claire's home pays homage to the city and even owns a special piece of decor in tribute to her home. "Another one of my favourite things in here is my lamb banana," she told OK! when inviting them into her home. "It's a landmark in Liverpool that's all over the city. "
And whilst Claire at one point had a glittering career on stage after her time on TV, it's not always been such heady heights of stardom, according to the Mirror. The star has also found herself needing to find cash quickly, as she did in 2021 when she reportedly made less than £5,000 in the previous 12 months after her income was 'decimated'.
With lockdown blocking her from her usual performing slots on stage and on screen, Claire saw her income change dramatically and was left living on the income from selling her Mallorca villa in 2019. In an interview with The Sunday Times, she revealed exactly how much she earned in 2021. She said: "Under £5,000. Our industry was decimated. Thankfully I'd sold a house in Spain, in 2019, so I was blessed that I could sit it out comfortably.
"It was a big house in Mallorca that I'd bought in 2004 for €690,000 (£580,000). It broke my heart to sell but it was on its own grounds, and my little boy didn't want that - he wanted to be with other kids."
Meanwhile, Claire recently suffered the tragic loss of her former co-star and friend. Dean Sullivan, known to many for playing drug dealer Jimmy Corkhill in the now-defunct Channel 4 soap, died in November following a short illness. The sad news of his death, aged 68, came after he confirmed he was living with prostate cancer in May - five years after his original diagnosis - but his cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
Sullivan's death, on November 29, was confirmed in a statement from Hamilton Management and his family. They said: "It is with deep sadness we must tell you that actor Dean Sullivan passed away on 29th November 2023 peacefully following a short illness. Dean is best remembered as the longest-serving cast member of Channel 4’s groundbreaking ‘Brookside’ playing the role of ‘Jimmy Corkhill’, making Dean a British Soap icon.
"To millions he was and very much still is remembered as 'Jimmy', to family and friends he was 'Dino'. Dean's family wants to thank Arrowe Park Hospital for their unwavering and consistent support. We ask that you respect their privacy in their time of grief."
The tragic news of his passing came after he was seen on-screens in June during a Brookside reunion at the British Soap Awards. Sullivan joined Claire and Sue Jenkins, who played Corkhill family members Lindsey and Jackie in the now-defunct scouse soap, on stage at The Lowry in Salford to present the award for 'Best Family'.
Taking to Instagram, Claire reacted to the news of Sullivan's passing. She shared picture of them together both earlier this year at the soap wards and back in the nineties when they starred in Brookside. "I will miss you Dean, Love you," Claire started the caption of her post. She then added: "It was wonderful to be reunited together as a family this year for the Soap Awards. RIP Dean Sullivan."
