Corrie: Helen Flanagan features

[faceless]

When I get these google-alerts for the shows I never know what they're going to be... so I wasn't out searching for these pics, they just landed in my lap. Ooer.

[Twirley]

How old is she in real life...????

[major.tom]

She's very pretty -- more healthy weight than most models. But the strapless red dress is a bit too tight...

[faceless]

I think she's 18-19 Twirley. Here we go 'born 12 December 1989'. So she's 19 in December.

Fashion tips Major? There's a side to you I didn't expect! haha

[major.tom]

I'm a dedicated follower of fashion.

[faceless]

Blackburn actress reveals all about saucy Coronation Street storyline
Friday 26th September 2008
Sally Henfield
www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

CORONATION Street secretary Rosie Webster revealed all - in more ways than one - in tonight’s episodes of the soap. But actress Helen Flanagan, who studied at Blackburn's Westholme School, said her teenage temptress' strong character helped her feel at ease filming in just a flimsy corset.

Millions of viewers tuned in to see Rosie attempt to seduce her boss, knicker factory owner Tony Gordon, after the pair went for lunch in a luxury hotel. After slipping him a room key, the teen waited for him on the bed clad in only her racy white lingerie.

Helen, 18, who sat her GCSEs while at Westholme, said: "We had meetings about what Rosie would wear and it was decided that as she has access to all this amazing underwear at work she would go all out to try and seduce Tony. I knew that I had to act confidently because Rosie is confident and there was no point in being embarrassed." She added: "Everyone was fantastic on set and put me at ease. In the end I had great fun doing these scenes.”

Rejected by Tony, Rosie decided it was time he knew the truth about his fiancée Carla and her brother-in-law Liam Connor, who have been having an affair. So she smugly showed him the footage she shot on her mobile phone of the two of them kissing. Tony flew into a rage and threatened Rosie that no one must find out about the affair - and next week the youngster mysteriously disappears.

It is the latest in a series of explosive story lines given to Helen since she joined the soap at the age of nine. After years of being a mild mannered child whose only excitement was being cooked beans on toast by mum Sally, Rosie became a goth and almost ran away to Berlin with boyfriend Craig. She then helped cover up her mother's affair, had an illicit fling with her teacher and schemed with boss Tony to take the family garage business from her unwitting dad Kevin.

Helen said: “Rosie is such a fun character to play. You never know what she will get up to next."

Lillian Croston, principal of Westholme School, said: "We are immensely proud of Helen and absolutely delighted that she is doing so well. She was an excellent pupil at Westholme and it is wonderful to see her maturing into a young woman and doing so well in her chosen career. Helen entertained us on the Westholme stage on a number of occasions including Blood Brothers. We would have liked to see her perform more, but her TV commitments curtailed this! We wish her well."

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[faceless]

Helen Flanagan on Coronation Street and being in love
Sue Crawford
14/06/2009
mirror.co.uk

On screen she's caused her parents no end of grief with her taste for older and unsuitable men, and pretty Coronation Street teenager Helen Flanagan admits she shocked her own mum too - when she decided to move in with her boyfriend just three months after meeting him. Helen, 18, met hunky Danny Scott, 22, at her local health club last year and the couple quickly fell in love, so much so that they now share a rented flat.

But the actress, who plays flirty Rosie Webster, admits: "I think my Mum thought I was a bit crazy. I was only just turned 18, but you have to trust your gut instinct. I was caught up in the whirlwind of it all, but at the same time I just knew it was right. And you know, I'm really glad I did it. It was a bit quick, but we're pretty much inseparable now. You get to know someone inside out when you live together and you love each other more.

"Once I'd decided my Mum and Dad didn't try to talk me out of it. I'm so strong-minded and my Mum knew that was what I wanted to do. It's fine though. I still live in Bolton and my Mum and Dad are only five minutes away which is nice and my Mum loves Danny now, so everything is cool."

Danny, who works for a builder's merchant, is Helen's first boyfriend. "I've never had a boyfriend or been in love before, but when you find that person it's amazing," she smiles. "I'd never felt like that before. And the fact that Danny's not an actor is great. I would hopefully never have become big-headed, but it's hard in a show like Coronation Street for it not to go to your head. Danny has made me a nicer person and grounded me a bit more.

"Things are really good and we are best friends too. He's dead nice and I can tell him anything and we have pillow fights and can just be really silly as well. Hopefully in the future we might get engaged and married; not for a while because I'm still young, but right now it's going great."

As she talks about Danny a wide smile spreads across her face, but while she is clearly very happily settled in her private life, the same cannot be said for her on screen alter ego. Rosie Webster's love affairs have kept the gossipmongers of Weatherfield busy for years and driven her parents Sally and Kevin to distraction. After an ill-fated fling last year with Fiz's older boyfriend John Stape and then a failed attempt to seduce her boss Tony Gordon, Rosie has now set her sights on her new boss Luke Strong. And this time round she has more success.

Helen explains: "Luke is a bit apprehensive at first - he's nearly twice her age - but there's a chemistry between them. It's not love for Rosie, but there's something sexy about Luke - he's cool and charming - and he's also an older man. She likes older men because they have power and money - she's quite ambitious and always wants to better herself."

And while Helen doesn't share Rosie's taste in older fellas she admits that she is more than happy working alongside 38 year-old Craig Kelly, who plays Luke. "I get on with all the guys at work, but I much prefer working with older men than younger men," she explains. "When you're working with someone twice your age it's clear nothing's going to happen between you in real life, so it's more comfortable and you feel like you can flirt much more easily!"

For many men it would be difficult to watch their girlfriend cosying up on screen to another man, but Helen insists that Danny is completely relaxed about her impending romance. "He knows it's just my job," she says. "I think at the beginning he thought it was a bit weird, but you are bound to really. I don't think I'd like him to go to work and kiss other people. But he understands it's just work and not a real kiss."

Helen grew up in Bolton, Lancashire, with her mum Julia, a nursery nurse and her dad Paul, an electrical contractor and her two sisters and a brother. She began acting at the age of four when her parents enrolled her in the nearby Carol Godby Theatre Workshop and two years later she began appearing in TV adverts, including Daz and Fairy Liquid. Then in 2000 at the age of just nine she was asked to audition for the role of Sally and Kevin Webster's young daughter Rosie.

"I was only in a couple of episodes a month and I was quite a shy little girl," Helen recalls. "My Mum was my chaperone and she really helped me through it. I remember thinking: 'wow, that's Ken!' whenever I saw Bill Roache and feeling rather nervous. I feel such a geek now because he's a lovely man. And I can talk to him now, thank goodness!"

Until she was 17 Helen combined her time on Coronation Street with studying at Westholme school in Blackburn. She took her GCSEs but then after a year in the sixth form decided to leave and concentrate full time on being an actress. For many girls, growing up in the public eye can be hard, but Helen has sensibly always resisted the pressure to follow the trend of too-thin celebrities and constant diets.

Having veered between a size 6 and a size 10, she is now a slim, but busty size 8-10 and insists she is more than happy to stay that way. "I watch my weight like any other girl, but it really doesn't bother me that much and I'm happy with the way I am," she says firmly. It's important to feel good about yourself and I swim and go to the gym a bit, but I feel there are lot more important things in the world than watching your figure."

Not that everyone would agree and at the Soap Awards recently there were certainly plenty of eyes on Helen's figure as she was nominated for the title of Sexiest Female Soap Star. "It really embarrassed me!" she giggles. "It's flattering, but they put you up against such gorgeous girls. Michelle Keegan who plays Tina in Coronation Street, won it and the thing is, she's naturally gorgeous. On set I have an hour and-a-half in make-up to play Rosie and she has 10 minutes for Tina and she still looks great!"

Away from work Helen enjoys going to the theatre and cinema as much as possible and still regularly visits her Mum. "I like to see her as much as I can," she says. "We're very close and I fill her in on all the gossip." Like many teenage girls, Helen's other passion is shopping and she'll soon be seen living out her fantasy on screen after Rosie unexpectedly comes into money.

Her former lover John Stape was jailed after kidnapping Rosie when he felt she had ruined his life. But out of the blue he summons her to his prison and announces he is going to give her £150,000 to make amends. "He wants her to do something really constructive with the money to make him feel better, but Rosie just spends it on ridiculous flash things. She's not sensible at all," Helen laughs. "I can be the same sometimes. I absolutely love my designer bags and I get so excited I stroke them and kiss them! I really don't want to say how much I spend on them, because even though I don't live at home anymore, my Dad would still kill me!

"I've just got a new Gucci snakeskin bag, although Helen Worth (Gail Platt) told me off. She said: 'do you know how those bags are made?' So maybe I won't be buying another one. There are also rumours Rosie gets a sports car! I'm really hoping she does. I passed my test three months ago so I'll be able to drive it on set - I can't wait!"

In real life Helen is much bubblier and friendlier than Rosie, with none of her screen character's pretensions. "Rosie can be a bit over the top, in tight little dresses and low-cut tops and I used to glam up more when I was 16 and 17 and totter around in high heels. I have quite a lot to do with her outfits and often bring in stuff from home for her and there's a brilliant outfit she wears to the prison to visit John Stape. She wears these huge Fendi heels which I brought in from home that I don't really wear anymore and a tiny red skirt that they took up to make it even shorter. I actually bought it for me, but decided it would be better for Rosie."

Despite having spent the past nine years in Coronation Street - half her life - Helen has no plans to leave and says her main ambition is simply to improve as an actress. "As long as I'm acting I'll be happy really," she says. "I'm not too bothered about being really rich; I just want to be a successful actress really. I've always taken my work seriously, but now I'm trying to up my game a bit. I think I was really lucky to get that audition when I was nine and then have my Mum and Dad help me through it; I really appreciate what I've got."

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[faceless]

Here's the offending video clip - I'm shocked and quite possibly horrified too!

[pirtybirdy]

Thanks Face! I looked all over for that thing when they said it was available, but when I tried to view it, it had said that I wasn't in the UK and couldn't watch it. I tried proxies and just gave up, so thanks so much for finding it and posting it here.

[faceless]

It was Luke that gave me the link... the dirty leftist!

[pirtybirdy]

Thank you Luke, ya loony leftist! ;-)

[SpursFan1902]

I knew Luke was a closet soap fan!

[faceless]

Rosie Webster gets a boob job
November 18th, 2009
by Lisa McGarry.

Coronation Street’s Rosie Webster is set to get a boob job in 2010, as part of a bid to become a glamour model. The decision shocks her mum sally Webster, who is trying to work up the courage to tell her family that she has breast cancer and needs a lumpectomy.

Rosie plans to sell her beloved sports car to pay for the operation, however she is spared having to part with her motor after her agency boss agrees to ‘invest in her future.’

An insider said: “The bosses are well aware of the controversy this storyline will cause. But they’ve researched all the implications and also looked at how it may affect teenage girl viewers and are determined to go ahead and show it – warts and all.”

[SpursFan1902]

The agency boss is going to pay for the boobs, eh? Hhmmm, I wonder what he is going to want in return on that one. It sounds like a good story line. I really don't like Sally at all (I know, I know...you are not supposed to...), but I wouldn't wish breast cancer on anyone. Should be interesting...