One of Coronation Street's most recognisable stars had their mum pop up in the ITV soap recently - and viewers may have missed it. This year Antony Cotton is celebrating his own Corrie milestone. as the actor, who is best known for playing Sean Tully in the ITV soap, will mark 20 years on the cobbles after making his debut in 2003.
Sean appeared in Weatherfield while searching for somewhere to live and it is then that he found a home at No.11 with Eileen Grimshaw, where viewers still find him today. And, following his sacking from a cosmetics firm, he became Underworld's first male machinist. He is now also a barman at the Rovers Return.
But last week, all eyes were on Antony's mum as she bagged a role in the long-running soap. Fans may not know that Enid Dunn, who is an NHS volunteer, previously appeared in Peter Kay's hit comedy Phoenix Nights. But she has also appeared not once but FOUR times before in Corrie.
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She first appeared as Joan Lawson, the aunt of the deceased Dennis Stringer, at the latter's funeral in January 2002 before playing two other roles in 2006 and 2011. Then, in 2014, she appeared in the long-running soap as bingo player Maureen Rothwell. Enid also appeared in the 2010 special drama The Road to Coronation Street as the immortal Agnes, the Granada Television tea lady who told Tony Warren that Florizel Street, the name of his new serial, sounded like a disinfectant leading to a change in the iconic show's name.
She has also appeared in City Central, Merseybeat, had several roles in Doctors, and a regular role in Cutting It as well as Phoenix Nights, the latter in the part of Joyce, one of the barmaids in Peter Kay's clubland comedy.
But now her Corrie appearances are at five after she appeared as the shocked neighbour of Stephen Reid's latest victim, Rufus Donaghue. During Friday night's trip to the cobbles, the truth was revealed after the businessman got a mystery visitor to his plush abode while waiting for Michael Bailey to arrive and talk business after poaching him from Underworld and offering him a fancy new job in London.
It came after things were ramped up a notch between Rufus and Stephen who was forced to agree to Rufus’ demand for 50% of the profits from the Nippersnapper deal after he learnt of the serial killer's plans to take over Underworld by drugging Carla Connor with LSD to make her think he psychosis had returned.
Michael, who co-created the brand with Stephen's niece Sarah Barlow, then caused Stephen further problems after telling him he can stick his job as Rufus has offered him a better one down south. But later, when Michael arrived at his house to see him, his knocking received no reply and hearing loud music from inside he calls him and leaves him a voicemail.
The no-show came after Rufus was earlier seen answering the doors and asking: "What are you doing here?"And later in the week, as Michael tries to smooth things over with Stephen, his uncle Ronnie advise him to give Rufus another try. Viewers then watched them return to Rufus' house only to find it swarming with police before learning that he has been found dead in the swimming pool.
They approached an unknown woman, played by Enid, who was sitting in the back of a police car wrapped in a blanket, sipping tea. She told the pair, whom she initially assumed to be press warning to report on the death horror, that she was Rufus’s housekeeper, and that her employer had died the previous night. "He drowned in the swimming pool and I was the one who found him," she said.
Enid has even previously appeared with her son Antony in an advert for Yorkshire-based internet provider Plusnet. The 47-year-old couldn’t stop laughing in the cheeky clip, leaving his mum with no choice but to tell him off. "You’re not too big for a slap, Antony," she joked. "In front of these, I don’t care!"
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