Coronation Street fans taken aback as character is unexpectedly recast after 9 years
Coronation Street fans were left surprised watching last night’s episode of the ITV soap, as a new face appeared.
In the instalment that focused on Mick Michaelis (Joe Layton) breaking out of prison, the murderer made his way to Weatherfield High School to look for daughter Joanie.
There, multiple children came across a furious and desperate Mick, who wandered through the corridors in search of his child.
The character made eye contact with teens, including Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) and a young girl – who many audience members didn’t recognise.
The student was actually Lily Platt, David’s (Jack P Shepherd) daughter. What took fans by surprise was that a new star is now playing the character, meaning they weren’t instantly able to identify her.
Lily was born in 2013 and was played by Ava and Lilly Bushell, and then Betsie and Emmie Taylor.
In 2016, Brooke Malonie took over the role. She played her for nine years.
Yesterday’s instalment saw Grace Ashcroft-Gardner’s first scenes as Lily, and the character effectively having a new head left plenty of people stunned!
Taking to social media platform X, this fan of Corrie wrote: ‘They’ve recasted Lily?! They kept that quiet. #Corrie.’
‘Is that David’s Lily? When did they change her #Corrie’, another wrote, echoing the shock.
‘Hang on… is that Lily, David & Shona’s Lily???’, this user noted.
In the episode itself, Mick left the school shortly after learning Joanie was no longer attending for her taster day.
Charging into the factory to find her, he held Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien) and Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) hostage in the office. Luckily, Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) had been tipped off about his escape and followed suit.
A huge argument escalated, and then Mick became aware that Joanie had been smuggled onto the roof by Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor).
Racing up the staircase, Kit’s behaviour then turned physical in a bid to stop him. Punches were thrown, and then a knife was produced.
Unfortunately, though, Kit was on the receiving end.
