Coleen Nolan has revealed that she auditioned for two of the nation's top soaps, Emmerdale and Coronation Street, but her nerves got the better of her each time.
Nerves got the better of her
The Loose Women star, who began her career with The Nolan Sisters in the 1970s, admitted on her podcast that she is 'really bad at auditions' and only attempted two in her career. She said: "I can't audition. I'm just really bad at auditions, my nerves get the better of me. I've only done literally about two in my career because I walk in going, 'I will do this rubbish,' because that's how nervous I am. I didn't get them. [One was] Emmerdale, I auditioned. And I think Corrie was one of them. Proper Dingle me!"
Coleen, 61, who was previously married to EastEnders star Shane Richie, explained how hard it is to be in a soap and recalled wanting to tell bosses she could do the job but couldn't get past the initial stage. Speaking on her Nolans Uncensored podcast, she added: "It's proper work. I don't think I've got the mentality to do that. It's a long, it's really hard. A few years ago, I was just terrible, and it's because I didn't have that belief in myself so I went in going 'I won't get this!' Even though I'd had the script for two days before, I couldn't even remember my name. I wanted to say to them that I couldn't do this part [the audition] but give me the job, and I'll be able to do it."
Family connections to soaps
Other members of The Nolans have had varied careers on stage and screen, with the late Bernie Nolan, who died in 2013 after a battle with cancer, appearing in Brookside and The Bill. Coleen's son Jake Roache also enjoyed a stint on Emmerdale in 2010 before appearing in Friday Night Dinner and Scott & Bailey and later went into music as the frontman of Push Baby.
Along with Linda Nolan, Denise Nolan and Maureen Nolan, Bernie enjoyed a star turn with the leading role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers, with the four of them earning a Guinness World Record for the most siblings to play the same role in a musical. Coleen and her sister Anne are the only two of the lineup to have not taken on the emotional role, but she insisted that whilst she would like to appear in a musical at some point, she couldn't possibly do that one.
Fear of auditions
She added: "That's why I've never gone for West End shows. They ask me to come down to audition and I say 'No, I'll just be crap.' 26 years of Loose Women, I still get nervous before every show. As I'm getting older, it's getting worse because it's turning into an actual fear. Doing a musical...I've never done one. I can't do Blood Brothers because four of my sisters have done it and I would die, because I'd be the worst."
The star then explained that she had been offered the part of Paulette Bonafonte in Legally Blonde the Musical when she was competing on Dancing on Ice in 2009. Claiming that she "didn't want to take her children out of school" at the time, had she accepted, Coleen would have been part of the original West End production that starred Sheridan Smith in the role made famous by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 film. In the end, Jill Halfpenny took the role and went on to win an Olivier Award for her performance.
More than a decade later, Coleen mused whilst chatting with her children Shane and Ciara that she would possibly like to take on the part of Donna Sheridan in the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! Coleen is good friends with actress Jodie Prenger, who after years starring in musicals on the West End and on tour, landed the part of Glenda Shuttleworth on Coronation Street. In 2022, when Jodie appeared on Loose Women to chat about her new role, host Ruth Langsford suggested that Coleen should join the soap then. She said: "Do you know what maybe there should be a story your long-lost sister comes back from somewhere?" at which Jodie responded enthusiastically as she turned to Coleen and said: "Well, my mum went to school with your sister anyway, we must be related! How funny would that be?"
Pressed for a name on what her soap alter-ego would be, Coleen thought for a moment and then said: "Maisie Shuttleworth," but insisted she would only do it if she didn't have to audition.
