ITV Coronation Street star quits soap and showbiz to move to Kent

ITV Coronation Street star Thelma Barlow, aged 95, has revealed she has quit showbiz to retire to Kent. The Coronation Street star has spoken out and revealed why she quit showbiz for a life in a quiet Kent market town after starring on the ITV soap.

Barlow played Mavis Wilton, one of Coronation Street's most beloved characters. She is also known for her role as Dolly Bellfield in the BBC One sitcom dinnerladies but now, at age 95, enjoys a quieter life after in Kent, where she is semi-retired.

The soap veteran fled to the south of England eight years ago - and hasn't looked back since. She said: “I absolutely love it here. My heart is still in the Yorkshire Dales – my home county – but I just love Faversham. It's the friendliest, most community-minded town I've ever been to.”

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Thelma moved to the market town Faversham to be closer to her son, who lives just 10 minutes away. Thelma said: “If I've achieved anything in bringing up my children. It's to let them choose and not pressurise them into anything. They both are absorbed by their chosen careers.”

Speaking about her time in Corrie, Thelma said: “I'd done 15 years of theatre before Coronation Street and I never thought I'd be in something so long, but it became interesting because you had to try and work out how to respond to each character.

"A new one would be written in and you'd have to think of what my character would have thought of them. [Corrie] was very convenient because it gave me some solid work. The contract was only a year at a time so you were never really secure. You had to keep your fingers crossed.

“And of course, you make such good friends - it is very much like family. You have that security and support.”