EastEnders Michelle Collins may be a soap legend, but even she couldn’t escape the backlash of fans when she made the bold leap from Walford to Cobbles. The actress, best known for playing the iconic Cindy Beale, has now opened up about the unexpected backlash she faced after swapping soaps. Collins admits the reaction left her “upset” – keep scrolling to know all!
EastEnders Star Opens Up About Her Corrie Stint
EastEnders legend Michelle Collins, best known for her role as Cindy Beale, found herself in the middle of a soap storm when she made the switch from Walford to Weatherfield. Before making her grand return to the BBC soap in 2023, the actress took on the role of Stella Price – the tough landlady of the Rovers Return, in Coronation Street from 2011 to 2014. Even though she was ready to take on a new challenge, now all soap fans were happy about it.
Speaking on the We’re Not Getting Any Younger podcast with Lisa Snowdon and Andy Goldstein, Michelle spilled the tea on the backlash she faced, particularly over her northern accent. The actress, who hails from London, admitted that viewers just couldn’t get past her Cockney roots. “I was the landlady of the Rovers,” she said, but viewers were not able to accept a Londoner running the Rovers.
The legendary star also recalled practicing with a dialect coach to better the accent. “They kind of couldn’t really get their head around it and I went to a dialect coach and everything, but yeah, people were very critical in the beginning, which kind of upset me a bit, but do you know what? It just takes time,” she said. For more such updates on EastEnders, keep following Soap Opera Daily!
