Kelli Hollis has confirmed her return to Coronation Street as Paula, with the character set to cause trouble for Debbie Webster in upcoming episodes. The actress, who first appeared in the ITV soap in February, announced her comeback on Instagram with a selfie video and the caption: "Paula's back on the cobbles next week! No spoilers… but trust me, it’s not going to be plain sailing. Tune in to find out."
Paula's prison past with Debbie
Hollis made her Corrie debut in February as Paula, a prison inmate whom Debbie was warned about while serving her sentence for pleading guilty to dangerous driving and causing the death of Billy Mayhew following a multi-vehicle pile-up in January. Despite warnings from prison buddy Lou Michaelis, Debbie befriended Paula and listened to her troubles about her partner. When Debbie's comments displeased her, Paula turned on her, slapping Debbie before Lou intervened.
Debbie, who was covering for her son Carl and was not responsible for the crash, was later released from prison after a successful appeal. Since then, Debbie's health has been deteriorating after she was diagnosed with early-onset vascular dementia in April last year.
Return to the cobbles
According to new spoilers for next week's episodes, Paula arrives at the Chariot Square Hotel to confront Debbie. Hollis, known to soap fans for her role as Ali Spencer in Emmerdale from 2011 until 2015, with the character killed off-screen in 2018, explained in the video that she had to keep her return under wraps.
"Obviously, I couldn’t say anything," she said. "I did a stint on Corrie back in January, with poor Debbie – and after that they booked me for some more episodes, and they’ve started sharing stuff today."
