Stephanie Cole as Sylvia Goodwin
Stephanie Cole's 'Coronation Street' exit sparked a "nightmare" for the show's writers.
The 71-year-old actress' alter ego Sylvia Goodwin was supposed to play a key role in her daughter-in-law Hayley Cropper's tragic cancer storyline, but departed the soap suddenly following the death of her brother, meaning certain key scenes had to be hastily re-written.
David Nielson, who plays Sylvia's son and Hayley's husband Roy Cropper said: "Rewriting results in your character suddenly talking about their childhood with someone you'd never usually confide in.
"They just give the lines to somebody else. For the writers it must be a nightmare. Some scenes you really want to see and suddenly you can't do them."
Julie Hesmondhalgh, who plays Hayley, added to Radio Times magazine: "She was such a massive part of the story and people were very much talking about Roy, Hayley and Sylvia as a family.
"It would have been nice to have her undercutting everything."
However, the on-screen couple believe the changes has had some benefits as it has opened Hayley's battle up to the wider Weatherfield community.
Julie explained: "What it's meant is there is now more space for characters like Fiz and Carla."
David added: "Fiz is great with Roy. And the thing about this show is people do react in a very intense way to storylines, but that goes away once the story is over.
"They obviously remember the history but they're really interested in what's going on now."
Tagged in David Neilson Julie Hesmondhalgh