Former Coronation Street star Jayne Tuncliffe has revealed that a big storyline for her character Yana Lumb, who she played between 2004 and 2007, was scrapped after one of her co-stars was sacked.

Yana was good friends with Cilla Battersby-Brown (Wendi Peters). Their friendship was tested when she slept with Cilla’s husband Les Battersby (Bruce Jones) behind Cilla’s back.

Tuncliffe left the ITV soap shortly after Peters did, but revealed that there were major plans for her to come back, only for those plans to be scuppered.

Speaking on the Conversation Street podcast, Tuncliffe said: “After Wendi decided to leave, we were on the way to the Soap Awards and she said, ‘I think it’s time to hang up Cilla’s stilettos’.

“I knew it was curtains for me really, because I wasn’t really associated with any other family.

“She left. I just shuffled off and she did her final scenes.

“Then there was talk, they wanted to get me back to be in a relationship with Les, but Bruce got sacked. That happened, so it was really quite unfortunate.”

Bruce was sacked from Coronation Street after he drunkenly told an undercover tabloid journalist some upcoming storyline details.

Last year, Corrie decided to kill Les off off-screen, and the soap informed him via email.

The actor, who has since embarked on a career in wrestling, admitted that he was initially “annoyed” at the impersonal and overly formal way that the soap told him, but said he felt better after receiving an apology from the show.

“I’ve got no problems with Corrie – I had 10 great years with them,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tuncliffe added that she would still love to return to the Cobbles after all this time, but doesn’t need to reprise the Yana role.

“I’d like to go back as a completely different character,” she said, “It’s been 20 years but I don’t know if you can.”