Coronation Street fans are demanding that Cilla Battersby, played by Wendi Peters, return to the cobbles to deal with a certain evil resident. Cilla has not appeared on Weatherfield since 2014, but she was involved in several dramatic moments during her time on the ITV soap, including the iconic episode where she fell through the ceiling.
Cilla first appeared in 2003 as Les Battersby's (Bruce Jones) love interest and quickly became a hit with viewers. Peters first left the cobbles in 2007, returning a year later in the spin-off Coronation Street: Out Of Africa. She was back again as Cilla in 2014, but that was the last time fans saw the character on screen.
A Return to Theatre and TV
After leaving Coronation Street, Peters, 58, returned to her theatrical roots and appeared in a number of notable productions, including White Christmas and Big the Musical on London's West End. She gained critical acclaim for her role as Mrs Henderson in Jonathan Miller's adaptation of Rutherford and Son, reprising the role at the Dominion Theatre at the end of 2014.
Last year, she played Florence Foster Jenkins in the production of Glorious, a musical playing at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester. This followed her tour with Sister Act: The Musical in 2024. Peters did not ditch TV after her Corrie exit, reaching the final of Celebrity MasterChef and starring in the CBBC show Hetty Feather from 2015 to 2017. From 2023 to 2024, she appeared as Nina Bulsara in the BBC soap Doctors, and also appeared as a contestant on The Weakest Link in a Doctors and Nurses special.
Would She Return to the Cobbles?
In 2024, Peters hinted she would be open to a Corrie return, telling Woman's Weekly: "My gosh, she was a nightmare! But I had such fun playing her, and I'm extremely grateful because there aren't many soap characters that are still remembered all those years later. I'd never say never about going back."
Last year, she addressed facing setbacks in the industry, telling Yours: "It's a very hard business to be in. Thankfully, I'm quite resilient. I've had my fair share of knockbacks, and while it never gets easier, you just learn to brush it off. Things happen for a reason—if something doesn't work out, there's always something else around the corner."
A New Chapter in Her Personal Life
Peters faced difficulty in her personal life in 2023 when she split with husband Kenny Linden after 30 years of marriage. The pair share daughter Gracie together after going through IVF. Peters explained that they had considered adoption as "it took seven attempts to have her. Then we had two more attempts after her to have another child, and then we gave up".
She added: "You do consider all options, but then we thought 'instead of worrying about what we haven't got, let's enjoy what we have got. It took such a long time to have her, let's just enjoy life with her now'."
She revealed her new relationship with carpet fitter Gareth Wale, from Leicester, a year later. Peters, who lives in Buckinghamshire, has admitted it's tough maintaining a long distance relationship and that they have considered moving in together as they're "really happy". On the prospect of marriage, she explained: "I was married a long time, and I mean, never say never to doing it again. At the moment, though, I just don't really see the need. We spend as much time as we can with each other and we'll just see where it goes but I'm very happy."
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
