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Fiz and Chesney are in for a shock later this year when their errant mother Cilla Battersby-Brown makes a surprise return to the street.



Actress Wendi Peters will reprise the role she made famous 7 years after Cilla left Weatherfield.

During her time on Coronation Street loudmouth Cilla made many enemies with her outrageous behaviour and she left in October 2007 after inheriting a £45k necklace from a pensioner who died whilst in her care.

She was last seen in the DVD spin off Out of Africa in 2008.

Exact details of the storyline surrounding her return are being kept under wraps but it will help facilitate Jennie McAlpine’s maternity leave when she leaves the show in the autumn to have her first baby.

Cilla will be on screen for 6 weeks from October.

Wendi Peters said: "I'm really thrilled to have the opportunity to revisit Cilla and the cobbles for a short while and to see what she has been up to for the last 7 years."

Coronation street Producer Stuart Blackburn said: “We can't wait to see Cilla back on the cobbles, she's a truly unforgettable character who is at the heart of Corrie's rich history.”

Since leaving the show Wendi has worked extensively in theatre notably in the The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Rutherford & Son and White Christmas - a show to which she returns to at the Dominion Theatre, West End this Christmas.

On television she has been seen in Hacker Time, Sadie J, Crime Stories and was also a finalist of Celebrity Masterchef in 2009 as well as being the narrator of ITV's Britain's Best Bakery.

ITV.com