Coronation Street fires an
actress who lied about her age. Katie Redford, 25 tricked ITV into believing
that her actual age was 19; so that she was cast for a 14 year old character,
Bethany.
ITV
announced Redford was joining the soap last week, playing the role of Bethany
Platt, granddaughter to Gail McIntyre. A
press release, issued on Friday, described the actress as 19. But fans on showbiz
site Digital Spy found evidence, including a CV, suggesting she was
actually 25.
Katie Redford, 25, (left) was cast in Coronation Street as the
14-year-old daughter of Sarah Platt, played by Tina O'Brien, who left
the show in 2007 (pictured) and will be returning in spring
The
actress has now been fired
and ITV is re-casting the role of 'tearaway teenager' Bethany who will be
arriving unannounced in Weatherfield from her home in Milan in the spring.
The
character of Bethany was
last seen in 2007 when she moved to Italy with her mum who had landed a job
working for Gail’s half brother Stephen Reid in Milan. She was previously
played by three child actors - Mia Cookson and Amy and Emily Walton.
It is
understood that producers have another
actress in mind for the role, and there will not be a new audition process.
Speaking
to BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat, Redford's
agent said it "wasn't [Katie's] idea to audition as a 19-year-old.
"People
in the industry do it regularly and she sort of went along with what we
said," Joanne McLintock said.
"I'm
feeling really stressed and so sorry for Katie. It's her first real job and
she's a star in the making."
Katie, who trained at the National Youth
Theatre, had not filmed any scenes before the decision was taken to drop her
from the show.
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