Channique Sterling-Brown accidentally stole a phone from the 'Coronation Street' set.
Coronation Street
The cobbles newcomer - who plays Dee Dee Bailey on the ITV soap - is set to arrive in Weatherfield next week, but the actress feared she'd blown her big chance after her final screen test with the rest of the Bailey family with two other people vying for the role.
She told the Daily Star newspaper's Hot TV column: "In all the chaos of it, I'd been givena prop phone in the scene and I put it in my pocket and then they shouted 'Cut' after a few takes and I left.
"I don't know what even made me realise because I wasn't even home yet. I just stopped thought, 'I've got the phone in my pocket!'
"I was like, 'I've just stolen from Corrie'. I called my agent and I'm like, 'What do I do?' They were like, 'Take it back.' "
Channique went back to the studio to hand back the prop, and her mistake ended up being a good omen given how the bosses wanted Dee Dee to be portrayed.
She continued: "I pulled up outside reception and ran in and as I was coming out, I bumped into Ryan [Russell], who plays Michael Bailey, and I was like, 'I took the phone'...
"It was meant to be because Dee Dee is very scatter-brained and stuff."
Channique will play Dee Dee, who is described as the "apple of their eye" daughter of Ed and Aggie Bailey (Trevor Michael Georges and Lorna Laidlaw), and the sister of James (Nathan Graham) and Michael.
Meanwhile, the actress was in public when she got the call confirming she landed the role, and she was overwhelmed.
She added: "I found out I got the part when I was on a bus on the way to a festival.
"I burst into tears. I was so overcome. I think the other people on the bus thought, 'She's got a bit of a screw lose, her!' "