Denise Welch says she filmed Coronation Street scenes on no sleep

She became a household name thanks to her role as feisty Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street, but Denise Welch admits she would often film her scenes while recovering from all night drug and alcohol benders. 

The actress enjoyed a three year stint as the Rovers Return landlady after making her debut on the long-running ITV soap opera in 1997. 

But her time on the show was overshadowed by substance and alcohol abuse issues, crippling depression and a lack of stability as she balanced a dysfunctional lifestyle with her marriage to fellow actor Tim Healy. 

Speaking to The Sun, Welch, 64, admits she would often arrive on the Manchester set while still under the influence after staying up all night. 

She recalled: ‘If I was away from home, I would be awake all night and go straight to work. That wouldn’t happen now on TV shows. There were times when I shouldn’t have even been on. But it was a different time.’ 

Now clean, sober and happily married to her second husband, in-demand artist Lincoln Townley, Welch pinpoints her time on the cobbles as the moment her use of alcohol began to escalate. 

She said: ‘My drinking really started to be a problem during the Coronation Street times. I had always loved a party. But that was getting p***ed on a Saturday night and feeling rough on a Sunday. I didn’t have a problem.

‘When I was doing Corrie it was watched by 21 million people an episode. That is a third of the country. There is a lot of f***ing pressure on you for that.

‘The schedule was unforgiving. Rather than stay off work — people stay off if they’ve lost an eyelash these days — I was from “the show must go on” school.’ 

She added: ‘There are no excuses for my behaviour. But there are reasons for it.’ 

Having swapped acting for a regular panelist role on ITV daytime show Loose Women, mother-of-two Welch has seen her own career eclipsed by that of her eldest Matty and his band, The 1975. 

The band have scored five consecutive number actually wr one albums since 2013, and the actress recently admitted She Lays Down, a key song from their second LP, was written about her crippling depression.

Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women in August, the actress said she once told Matty that her depression made her ‘lose the ability to love’.

‘I told him when he was older that depression robbed me of the ability of love and I used to lay down on the bedroom floor and pray for the ability to love my children again,’ she explained. 

‘I never tried to take my own life, but there were times when I wanted that to be done, when I was taking him [Matt] to Australia I wished that the plane would come down. 

The actress star shares sons Matt and Louis with ex-husband Tim, best known for his roles in ’80s drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and ITV comedy Benidorm. 

If you are affected by anything in this article, call The Samaritans on 116 123, or Alcoholics Anonymous on 020 7407 0700.