‘I’m missing it,’ Loose Women’s Denise Welch is finally ready to go back to full-time acting

Denise Welch is ready to return to acting

(Picture: Getty Images)

Denise Welch says she’s wants to return to full time acting after quitting Coronation Street 22 years ago.

Since leaving the cobbles, the 64-year-old has been primarily seen on screens as a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women.

And in a move that could see her pack in her regular stint as a panellist on the ITV daythime chat show, she tells Evening Standard that she’s finally ready to go back to her original day job.

When asked if she’d ever return to full time acting Welch, who was ringing in the festive season at hit West End show, Elf The Musical, said: "I am for the first time in a while missing my acting.

"That’s what I’m going to concentrate on next year."

Welch has been a regular panellist on Loose Women from 2005–2013 and 2018–present (Rex Features/ITV)

When asked if she’d be trying to reprise her role on Corrie she said she was not sure that could happen even if she wanted it to.

She joked: "Well, the girl that played my sister is playing somebody else’s sister now, so I think that [my return] would be very, very unlikely."

The mother-of-two, who heaped praise on the stage version of Elf at London’s West End, said she’s more likely to be focused on getting back to her roots as a stage actor.

"I miss theatre and I don’t mean commercial theatre," she said.

Welch, in her former role as pub landlady Natalie Barness, looks on as King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, enjoys a scotch in the Rovers Return on his visit to the Corrie set in December 2000 (PA)

"I mean small theatres where the people are nearly sitting on your knees.

“It’s my origins in theatre that I want to go back to."

In 2000, the Coronation Street producers wanted the star to do a storyline involving her character Natalie having a miscarriage.

However, she refused, saying that it would be too much as the character had already lost her husband and son.

Welch, who was expecting a baby at that time, then decided to leave the show.

Theatre luvvie: Welch and her husband at the Laurence Olivier Awards - the prestigious annual theatre awards - in 2005, said she’s desperate to get back to performing in theatre (Getty Images)

In 2006 she made her soap comeback as Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road before leaving the soap in 2010.

She then returned to soaps in 2021 as Hollyoaks’ Trish Minniver, the mother of established character Maxine Minniver played by Nikki Sanderson.

However, just a year later in January 2022, she left the Channel 4 series.

She posted about her exit on social media but only responded to fans’ reactions about her character’s departure.

As she wasn’t killed off, fans have speculated that she may return to the show in the future.

Elf the musical is now showing at London’s Dominion Theatre until January 7 2023. Get tickets at Elf.London.com