Pop Idol past of Corrie newcomer Natalie Anderson - as gay love triangle is exposed

When recently bereaved Danielle Silverton walks in on undertaker enjoying a passionate clinch with her husband in Wednesday night's , her falls apart. Married to hunky scaffolder Theo () - the father of her two children - for 19 years, she had no idea he was gay.

In fact, she had just accused Sarah Platt of having an affair with her husband - nearly giving her a “beer shower” in The Rovers. Still in the throes of grief, after losing her mum, it’s been an action packed two weeks since Danielle stepped on the cobbles for the first time.

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Actress Natalie Anderson, 43 - who also starred in and The Royal - tells The : “Danielle knows their relationship can be quite tempestuous, but she loves Theo. She absolutely adores him.

“Yes, like any long, established relationship, they can snap at each other and if there was to be any midlife crisis, then she thinks the threat of other women could potentially be a problem. She even thinks Sarah might be keen on Theo and has already accused her of having an affair with him! So, to then walk in and see Theo in a passionate embrace with Todd is a huge shock.

“Suddenly, her whole life feels like a lie and it understandably makes her question if she can even trust any of the happiness they had. Was their love a lie all along to the point of the children, even? It’s a colossal thing to find out.”

Natalie says she, James Cartwright and , who plays Todd, have all found the storyline very emotional to film. But she hopes the scenes will go down as an all-time classic Corrie plot. “This is the stuff I would watch when I was younger,” she says. “I grew up watching Ken and Deirdre and Mike Baldwin and now it’s amazing to be part of this storyline in Corrie.

“When we started filming it, I found myself thinking ‘wow this is the kind of thing I would have watched growing up!’ It’s also been really emotional to film, as it's heartbreaking for all three. Each one of them has their own story in this.”

Fortunately, Natalie’s real life is worlds apart from her character’s - although, like Danielle, family means everything to her. The actress, who grew up in Bradford, has been happily married to her husband, James Shepherd, for 17 years and they have a 12-year-old son, Freddie. Since becoming a mum, she has put her son first and only taken on acting roles that can work around her home life - even rejecting parts, if the schedules looked too demanding.

But she is delighted that the Corrie role was a perfect fit, saying: “My career, ever since I had Freddie, has been about balance - family first and whatever fits around my family, then I can do it. I feel happiest when I am really present with Freddie and doing the best job I can as a mum.

“When jobs have come along, my husband and I talk about whether we can make it work with family life. With Corrie, I knew the times and dates early on, so I knew I could make it work, but there have been times when I have said no to things and that’s been hard. Ultimately, you have such a short window of time being a mum when they are at home with you and I want to be around.”

She smiles, pauses, and then says happily: “But, touch wood, we have managed to navigate it so far relatively well. “I couldn’t do this job without the support of James, my husband, who is so brilliant. We have found a rhythm!”

Laughing, she then reveals her son, Freddie, is unfazed by his mum’s tangled love life on screen in Corrie. “He’s nearly a teenager and part of the TikTok generation,” she admits. “It all goes over his head– unless of course I was in a Marvel movie! I am just a mum to him, but that’s the way I want it to be!”

She says she would never put any pressure on him to follow in her footsteps, despite the fact she was only two years older than Freddie when she startedout in TV, at the tender age of 14.

Her first role was playing a girl called Francesca in 1996 in The Biz, starring Paul Nicholls. “It was like a children’s version of Fame,” she recalls. “I was 14 then and I am going to be 44 at the end of this year, so it will be my 30th year of being in the industry. To still be acting now and finding so much joy in the job is really wonderful."

Natalie certainly has an impressive CV. After The Biz, in 2001 she auditioned in front of Simon Cowell on Pop Idol. Just 19, she narrowly missed out on the live finals. “It was a brilliant experience being part of Pop Idol, it taught me a lot” she says. “I had grown up with Opportunity Knocks and it was such a unique time.”

While she didn’t make it through, four years later, in 2005, she landed a role playing Nurse Stella Davenport in ’s popular series, The Royal. Quitting in 2008, she joined the cast of Wicked in the West End. And from 2010- 2015, she played Alicia Metcalfe in Emmerdale - also appearing in ITV’s singing competition, Your Voice Sounds Familiar.

Celebrities were asked to perform as different singers every week and, winning 3 out of 6 heats, Natalie won the whole series, landing a £100,000 prize for the Bliss baby charity.

Recalling how tough it was, she says: “It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life! I had a 10-month-old baby, I was working on Emmerdale full-time and I was also learning to be a new person every week for the Saturday live shows. I don’t know how I did it.”

After quitting Emmerdale in 2015, she appeared regularly on and , as well as landing a role in the Liam Neeson action movie Memory, before taking on the part, briefly, of Lexi Calder in in 2021.

Then, last year, she played Claire Walker in the smash hit, Fool me Once, alongside Michelle Keegan. “That was incredible,” she admits. “I remember filming the scenes thinking ‘this is brilliant’ but I don't think any of us knew it would be so stratospheric!”

Like many actors, she admits staying in touch with co-stars can be difficult, as they move around so much. So, it was a lovely surprise to walk onto the Corrie set on the first day and bump into her old Royal colleagues, Amy Robbins, who plays Daisy’s scheming mum Christina, and Tony Maudsley, who plays undertaker George Shuttleworth.

“The first person who walked in my dressing room was Amy,” she explains. “It was like being transported to 20 years ago and just like old times! Then we saw Tony in the Green Room! We were so excited and it has definitely been one of my highlights of being on Corrie. The Royal days were so special and we are all so fond of them.”

She says it’s been non-stop fun working on the set of Corrie, working with so many soap legends. “It’s been such an honour and the soaps are up there with the best at telling stories that are so impactful on our audiences,” she says.” To have been part of this world has been amazing. Working on Corrie is surreal, but exciting!”

Remaining tight-lipped about Danielle’s next move, after discovering her husband’s infidelity, she does reveal that a rocky road lies ahead for the love triangle. “There is so much to explore with Danielle and that’s part of the joy of the job,” she explains. “I don’t think anyone is a villain in this storyline ,because they are all coming at it from their own unique place.

“I love how Danielle is so layered and there is so much scope with her character. You also have to remember she has just lost her mum, so she is grieving too. She is a shape shifter and you never know what you are going to get next.”

If she had her way, she says she would let them all become friends, “In my dream, they would all be really good friends, “she chuckles. “They would find a way to navigate through it and co-parent together. But let’s see what happens….”

• Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm. Episodes can be downloaded on ITVX