Jane Danson has revealed that she was shocked when writers revealed that her character, Leanne Battersby, would be returning to the soap opera as an escort girl.

“I’m not going to pretend that I initially thought it was great,” Jane told the Sunday Mirror. “Coronation Street has never done a story like that before and I was worried people wouldn’t like it.

“When I read the scripts I thought it was just a funny storyline - Leanne was charging people for her company while they took her out for a slap-up dinner. But when it turned out she carried on after dinner, I thought, ‘Oh God!’ Thankfully, it’s not been seedy and I think she will redeem herself in the end.”