Coronation Street barmaid Katherine Kelly on her real-life training

Jun 29 2008 By Steve Hendry

Katherine Kelly arrived on Coronation Street to cause trouble as bad girl Becky Granger and shot her first scenes locked up in a police cell.

But she's behind bars of a different kind this week when she steps behind the counter at the Rovers Return to become the landmark 50th barmaid at TV's most famous pub.

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Bet Lynch and Raquel Watts is a big deal in the world of soap - and an even bigger deal for self-confessed Corrie fan Katherine.

She said: "Being the 50th barmaid is such an accolade and it's a lot to live up to. There have been some brilliant characters and actresses behind the bar of the Rovers.

"It is a big deal and real compliment but I just have to shut off from that. The bigger the part, the higher the expectation and I don't want to let anyone down. I just want to get on with doing the best job I can."

Katherine, 28, promises to bring something different to the Rovers, not least a character who won't take kindly to anyone spilling a pint.

She said: "The previous producer, Steve Frost, loved the idea of a barmaid who could lose her temper and throw a punch. Becky's an ex-con so she can fight dirty like nobody else.

"I feel comfortable behind the bar because I actually used to work in one.

"I was trained at the Miners' Rest Pub in Barnsley when I was 18. I had full training, pulling pints on about five different pumps that all needed different ways of working.

"The regulars would send it back if it wasn't right - the glass was too warm, the head was too big or it wasn't filled right.

"The late Stan Richards, who played Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale, used to drink there. I used to pull him a pint and he would go and play the piano.

"We use non-alcoholic beer in Coronation Street. It's a bit frothier than normal beer but I've managed to get a handle on it.

"On my first day at the Rovers the props guy offered to set me up with pulling a pint but I had a go myself and it worked out just right. He said I was a natural which was high praise indeed."

Stepping into the Rovers continues Katherine's irresistible rise from bit-part player to centre stage.

Her original four-month contract in 2006 saw her turn up as a former cellmate of Kelly Crabtree (Tupele Dorgu), who she tried to frame.

But the spirited con made an impression with viewers and she was asked to return permanently, with her more troublesome instincts curbed by the nurturing of Roy Cropper (David Neilson) and wife Hayley (Julie Hesmondhalgh).

And recently she's been at the centre of trouble between Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and Michelle Connor (Kym Ryder) after she had a drunken night of passion with Steve.

Katherine has signed up with Corrie until late next year but refuses to look too far ahead.

Corrie fans are just like drinkers in the Miners' Rest - if they don't like Becky behind the bar, she'll soon know about it.

She said: "I just concentrate on doing the job.I've never been somebody who reads my own press, even before Coronation Street, because there isn't a critic who can be harder on me than myself.

"But whether people write good or bad things about you, it can affect you. It can knock you or make you over-confident. I don't think there's anything to be gained either way. I just want to do the best job I can and entertain people. That's what Coronation Street is all about and it's payback in a way because I've been entertained by Coronation Street for years."

That last statement isn't just lip service either. RADA-trained Katherine spent 18 months at the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company but says it doesn't compare to working in Coronation Street.

She grew up watching TV's premier soap with her brothers, Sean, 26, and Chris, 24, and sister Grace 18, and recalls the opening bars of the theme tune as signalling a mad rush for the TV.

She said: "My mum used to turn up the volume at 7.30pm and we would all rush downstairs. It was like the beginning of The Simpsons and we all used to plonk ourselves down on the sofa.

"My mum says she didn't have to read us a bedtime story on Mondays and Wednesdays because we were allowed to watch Corrie."

And while her family were delighted at Katherine getting the part in the first place, she won't be allowed to let it go to her head.

She laughed: "The people back home in Barnsley wouldn't stand for it if I changed and I like that. One of my brothers is a doctor, the other is an engineer and they are constantly telling me to go and get a proper job.

"They are always saying, 'Oh you poor thing, making bacon rolls for Roy?' That keeps your feet on the ground."

Fame goes hand-in-hand with the soap but Katherine manages to live relatively quietly with her partner, actor Oliver Williams, who she met at the RSC.

It's partly because she doesn't court attention - and also because she looks nothing like hardliving, chain-smoking Becky.

She said: "Make-up and costume love me because I always say to them,'Do your worst!' "They backcomb my hair, put dodgy roots in and I'm always smoking these herbal cigarettes.

"The more different Becky looks from me, the better because that's what it's all about for me. I dress very differently from her in real life. She's like an alter ego I love putting on."

"Make-up and costume love turning me into Becky.I just turn up and tell them:Do your worst!"