Paula Lane has landed a role in 'Emmerdale'.
Coronation Street star Paula Lane has joined the cast of Emmerdale
The 37-year-old actress is best known for having played Kylie Platt in 'Coronation Street' from 2010 until 2016 but has now been cast as Ella Forster in the fellow ITV1 soap opera and is "so excited" to be joining the Yorkshire-based serial.
She said: "Everyone has been so welcoming and I can't wait to start a new chapter playing the role of Ella. I've already heard there are big plans for her and I can't wait to see her navigate a new life in the village and hopefully make some friends!"
Paula will begin filming her role on 'Emmerdale' later this month and will be seen on screen from January 2024.
'Emmerdale' producer Kate Brooks added: "Ella is a complex and multi-layered character who comes to the village and certainly makes an impact. Ostensibly she's a good, moral character, but is there more to her than meets the eye?
"We are absolutely thrilled to welcome an actor of Paula's calibre to the show and we can't wait to have her light up our screens."
During her time on 'Coronation Street', Paula's character Kylie sold her young son Max to half-sister Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) for £20,000, battled drug addiction, married David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd), and endured a fractious relationship with mother-in-law Gail Platt (Helen Worth) but was dramatically killed off when she was stabbed broad daylight by teenager Clayton Hibbs (Callum Harrison).
Since leaving the Manchester-based soap, Paula has appeared in 'Father Brown' and 'Call the Midwife' and starred in the 2018 UK tour of the musical 'Kinky Boots', playing the female lead of factory worker Lauren.
But Paula - who has Arthur, eight, and six-year-old Penny with husband Tom Shaw - has since admitted that the decision for Kylie to be killed off came as a "shock" to her because she had initially hoped to go off to give birth to her youngest and then return.
Speaking on the 'Soap from the Box' podcast, she said: "I felt very strongly that I wanted to go but I was kind of up for maybe having Penny and then coming back for a bit but I think they felt that muddied the water a little bit.
"They came to the conclusion that they wanted a clean exit. I don't think it was across the board - the writers were very torn by all accounts what they wanted to do. It was Stuart Blackburn, the producer at the time, who made the call and said 'We're gonna kill her off'. I was so shocked. I was heartbroken.
"I was really shocked but at the same time I understand that it wasn't a decision I had taken lightly. I remember thinking 'I didn't see that coming!' and I guess the audience would have been equally shocked."
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