CORONATION Street star Paula Wilcox looks completely different since her star making role on Man About The House.
The star who currently plays Elaine Jones on the ITV soap, rose to fame playing Chrissy Plummer in the 70s sitcom with Richard O’Sullivan and Sally Thomsett.
She was just 24 when she joined Man About The House and still get recognised by taxi drivers from that role.
“I definitely still get recognised from Man About the House,” she told Woman’s Weekly magazine.
“I get taxi drivers saying they used to be in love with me, and I say, ‘What do you mean, used to be?’”
Paula added: “It’s very flattering after all this time. It was a lovely programme and it’s nice to be recognised for something that was dear to people’s hearts.
“It’s difficult to believe it nowadays, but it was quite cheeky for its time.
“Two young girls sharing a flat with a man was quite titillating and both the girls could be flirty.
“There was something for everybody and lots of generations watched it.”
Paula joined Corrie as Elaine in 2020, the former partner of Geoff Metcalfe (Ian Bartholemew) who spent months abusing wife Yasmeen (Shelley King).
She is no stranger to the cobbles, having first appeared in 1969 as Janice, the younger sister of Ray Langton, played by Neville Buswell.
The actress played a 15-year-old runaway on the soap that was then filmed entirely inside a studio in Manchester.
Speaking on Lorraine in 2020 about her previous appearance on Corrie when she played Janice, Paula recalled: “I was 18, I was playing a 15-year-old but I was 18, I could obviously remember what it was like to be 15 and a rebel.
“I think I was called Janice, she had escaped from a borstal of some sort.
“She was on the run and she comes to find her brother Ray to get some money out of him and then continue on her merry way, and she disappeared a couple of weeks later. So I was in it for three weeks.
“It was just about one of the first jobs I ever did, so it was really thrilling, actually. The whole thing was gob-smacking.”
Paula went on to star in other big shows including The Lovers, opposite Richard Beckinsale, the father of movie star Kate Beckinsale.
She was also in sitcom The Liver Birds, The Lovers and from 2007 to 2008 was Hilary Potts in Emmerdale.
