Claire Sweeney has joined the cast of Coronation Street as Cassie, the biological mother of Tyrone (Alan Halsall).
In 2018 Tyrone discovered that the woman he believed to be his mother, Jackie (Margi Clark), had in fact taken him in as abandoned baby and claimed that he was her own.
Tyrone then managed to track down his biological grandmother, Evelyn (Maureen Lipman), who informed him that her daughter - and his real mother - had died previously.
However, both Evelyn and Tyrone will get a shock when Cassie turns up on the street out of the blue in June, forcing Evelyn to come clean to her grandson about her lies.
Corrie producer Iain MacLeod said: "Claire bowled us over in her audition and the scenes with her, Tyrone and Evelyn will be electric. Her arrival will mark the start of a tumultuous time for Tyrone and the family and her impact will be felt across the street in the weeks and months that follow."
"Even though I've been lucky enough to have enjoyed an amazingly varied career for nearly 40 years - being cast in Coronation Street is, to me, better than being cast in a Hollywood movie!" said Sweeney, who previously starred in Brookside.
"I've watched it all my life and can't quite believe that I'll now be stepping onto those famous cobbles myself.
"I was really nervous when I got the scripts to audition as this show means so much to me and my family and this is Corrie gold, I was beyond thrilled and very grateful when I got the call that Iain MacLeod is trusting me to play Tyrone's Mum and work alongside one of my heroes, Dame Maureen Lipman.
"Cassie is a character who is definitely going to make an impact - I just hope the audience will enjoy watching her as much as I'm going to be enjoying playing her!"
Sweeney starts filming her new role next week and will be seen on screen for the first time in the episode airing on June 28.
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