Coronation Street fans go wild as they realise where they've seen seen inmate Brie before

New character Brie appeared on Coronation Street just in time to throw a wrench in Lauren Bolton's trial - but Brie's actress, Jessica Ellis, was a very familiar face to many fans

ITV’s Coronation Street tonight saw Lauren Bolton, played by Cait Fitton, carrying on with her trial months after the murder of Joel Deering. And she was joined by an instantly recognisable actress.

A new character is here to cause even more trouble for Lauren, and viewers immediately noticed that they’d seen her face before. Brie, played by Jessica Ellis, 37, appears as a fellow prisoner with Lauren, housed in the same area. While Lauren is staying in the mother and baby unit with baby son Frankie, Brie is there with her baby daughter.

Soon enough, newcomer Brie tries to tarnish Lauren's name in court, claiming she was attacked in prison by her. Lauren assures her barrister she did no such thing, but unfortunately she makes a comment that could only make matters worse.

Brie’s actress, Jessica, is perhaps best known for playing Tegan Lomax on Hollyoaks. Jessica was on the soap from 2013 to 2018, featured in a jaw-dropping 398 episodes. The star is no stranger to soaps, having acted in a couple of episodes of EastEnders in back 2011, and one episode of Doctors the same year.

Brie isn’t the only new character involved in Lauren’s trial with an actor fans will recognise from elsewhere. Corrie has signed up EastEnders star Samuel James, who is best known for playing Jimmie Broome on BBC One's EastEnders, and for his role as Garth Stubbs on Birds of a Feather.

According to The Sun, Samuel will be joining Corrie as solicitor Steven Poyser, who is leading the prosecution in the court case. A source told the publication: "Samuel will appear on screen for a number of episodes in a guest role as Lauren's fate is finally revealed."

Despite the new guest stars, the recurring Coronation Street stars are reportedly struggling amid a huge slew of firings among the cast. “There’s a WhatsApp group which has been pinging with messages about concerns of where the axe will fall next. It’s a tough time on the soap and it’s filtering down,” a source told The Sun last week, claiming the cast was in fear of losing their jobs.

The insider added that actors thought the show might fire even more people in order to afford keeping the highest-paid stars in the show. Alongside the smaller cast, life on set is said to be a lot less “fun” that it once was. The insider explained: “Filming is tough. One person moaned they were ‘worked like dogs.’”

Recently, insiders explained that a major budget crisis was behind the cast firings. "Corrie is on its knees financially and bosses are being forced to make hard decisions" thanks to TV production costs soaring while the advertising market funding them has all but collapsed. "The cast are not happy but ITV have no choice but to slash costs," a source said.

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