Corrie temptress Nicky Wheatley is back on the manhunt this week... but the actress who plays her says she is quite happy being single.
Kimberly Hart-Simpson returns as Nicky after 18 months away from the famous Weatherfield cobbles.
During that spell she has been on Celebs Go Dating and hooked up with Shane Finlayson, 33. They dated for six months before things fizzled out.
Kimberly, 35, also copped some flak from social media trolls for revealing she is pansexual – where attraction to another person is regardless of their sex or gender identity.
But she took that in her stride. And, talking about romance, she tells the Sunday People : “I don’t mind a quiet life; I’m happy to be single.
“I spent Valentine’s Day learning my lines and I’m focusing on work at the minute anyway.
“You just have to fill your life with things that you love.
“And then if somebody is something else, that does change that vision. But right now I’m living my best life.”
Of the E4 dating show, she adds: “I had the time of my life and I’m really glad that I pushed myself to do something that was out of my comfort zone.
“I met some amazing people and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.”
Kimberly is proud she came out as pansexual, adding: “I’ve had a couple of memes. Me holding a Tefal pan, because I’m ‘pan-sexual’, but that’s all right.
“People saying it’s a stunt are not my problem. That’s their problem.”
Kimberly is thrilled to be back in Corrie, where her sex worker character Nicky is set to ruffle feathers once more.
It’s a classic soap plot of old-flame-of-sorts versus new love interest.
Nicky has returned from a spell in Blackpool and wants to hook up again with Ken Barlow’s son Daniel, alias actor Rob Mallard.
But Daniel is now dating barmaid Daisy, played by Charlotte Jordan.
There’s a further complication... Nicky’s daughter Maisie might actually be Daniel’s.
Daisy panics when she bumps into Nicky and lies that Daniel has moved down South. Then she deletes a voicemail message left on Daniel’s phone by her rival.
But crafty Nicky ups the ante by applying for a teaching assistant’s role at Daniel’s school.
Kimberly loves all the soap shenanigans and hopes Nicky does find love. one way or another.
The actress even picks out a real TV presenter, chuckling: “I’d love them to bring in someone new in for her, like Reggie Yates.
“I’ve got a bit of a crush on him, but that’s because he does documentaries.”
Kimberly says she is proud to reprise her role and says returning to the soap triggers poignant memories of her dad Kevin, who died in 2007 from a form of bone cancer.
He was a massive fan of the show and even dreamt that Kimberly would end up in it one day. She says: “I grew up in a household where it was religiously shown.
“No one was allowed to be on the house phone between the times that it was on. It’s just happy memories.
“And for me in particular, I did that with my dad who is no longer here and it reminds me constantly of him.
“There’s always a real sort of feeling of my dad every time I go to work.”
Kimberly, who hails from Rhyl, North Wales, says she always wanted to work on the soap and likens it to working in repertory theatre.
She hits back at art snobs who claim soaps are easy going for actors – and cites Corrie favourites past and present as proof of the standards.
Kimberly says: “It’s such a skill. The actors in soaps are so hard-working that even when you finish filming, you go home to learn the next scene and I think there’s something so amazing about that.
“It’s like rep theatre really, so I just rate anybody that can do it. The greats like Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Maureen Lipman tread the boards [of both] because they realise how important it is within our culture.
"It’s part of education in a way. You go to school to learn about maths and English, but watch things like Coronation Street to learn about life skills, love and all the drama that we all experience.
“So, I wouldn’t be friends with people who snub Corrie to be fair.”
Kimberly is busy off screen too. As well as being the founder of the fashion company Hart-Work, she reveals she is a secret adrenaline junkie who loves jumping out of planes – and wants to eat bugs on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.
She enthuses: “I’d love to do the jungle 100%! I like doing things that scare me. Weirdly, when I watch people on TV doing eating challenges, I think, oh, I wish I was them.
“I like fear. I’ve just recently jumped out of an airplane. I’ll do anything. It’s like a daredevil in me, I just love adrenaline. I wouldn’t question anything. I’d just be like, yeah, I’ll do it!”
