‘Coronation Street’ legend Barbara Knox doesn’t want to retire after turning 90.
Barbara Knox has no plans to leave Corrie after hitting 90
The actress brings to life one of the ITV1 soap’s longest-running characters, Rita Sullivan - whose first appearance in the show was in 1964 before she became a regular fixture in Weatherfield in 1972 - and just because Barbara entered her 10th decade of life in September, she will not be saying goodbye to everyone on the cobbles anytime soon.
Speaking to Bradley Walsh, 63, in the ITV1 and ITVX special ‘Barbara Knox At 90’ - which airs on Friday (13.10.23) and was created to celebrate her milestone birthday - she says: "Unbelievable really isn't it? How the years have gone. And what we've crammed into the years and how fortunate I have been, in being in the Street for about 50 or 60 of them. I've lost track.
"So wonderful, really I've been very fortunate. I can't believe all these years have gone by and I'm looking at 90. I can't believe that. And if they're listening. I don't want to retire.”
Barbara - who has three grown-up children, Maxine, John and Amanda, with her first husband Dennis Mullaney - revealed she got her first taste of “showbiz” when her parents took her on holiday to the northern seaside town of Blackpool during her younger years.
She says: "Back in the day, Blackpool was the place to go. My parents used to bring me every year from seven to about 10. Because during the war there was restrictions on how far you could travel.
"There was something for everybody. Being a little girl, I went to the tower to the children's concert.
“It was in the afternoon and it was very famous. We went and we sat cross legged. And then the little kids come on singing for about half an hour. That was my entertainment in the afternoon. I liked that very much. Maybe that was the next nudge towards showbiz."
'Barbara Knox at 90' airs Friday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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