From the stage to the famous cobbles of Coronation Street, actress Wendi Peters takes on the role of Florence Jenkins Foster in the UK tour of Glorious!

Wendi chats all things Glorious!, and a possible return to Corrie, ahead of her run at Theatr Clwyd (26-30 May).

Can you sing in tune?

I can so it’s proved quite a challenge to sing off-key. Florence sings four big numbers in the play including Mozart’s Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute. I started by learning it note perfect.

Do you think Florence knew how hopeless a singer she was?

I think it must sometimes have crossed her mind that audiences were laughing at her rather than with her and there would be a reason for that.

That inevitably injects a certain poignancy into proceedings…

Absolutely – and particularly in the second half of the play.

On the other hand, she got her wish to perform to 3000 people at Carnegie Hall which would have bankrupted her if the concert hadn’t sold out. So, the woman had chutzpah.

You’re best known for playing Cilla Battersby in Corrie. How did that change your life?

I’d been working for 10 years when I got the role of Cilla but there’s no doubt she opened a lot of doors for me. I’m grateful to her although, within a week of appearing in Corrie, I was being stopped in the street. You don’t realise the power of a soap until you appear in one as a regular character.

Did you like Cilla?

To begin with, she was mischievous and fun, but she quickly morphed into a bit of a monster. It’s always more fun playing a baddie.

I don’t think anybody on the cobbles liked her, but I loved playing her. Although, I wouldn’t want to live next door to her. She’d be a nightmare neighbour.

Which were your favourite storylines?

Only weeks into my joining the cast, I had a ruck with Rita Sullivan who’d slapped my son, Chesney, for stealing from her shop. I got Rita banged up for a night and claimed compensation.

I’d only been there five minutes and there I was standing in the street shouting at Rita – Dame Barbara Knox, as we called her – and I almost had to pinch myself!

But I was just a girl from Lancashire who used to watch Corrie every Friday night with her grandma and here I was sitting on Gail Platt’s garden wall. Surreal.

Would you ever return to the cobbles?

People always ask that and I always answer in the same way: never say never. If they came up with an irresistible storyline, I might be tempted. That said, I’m too busy at the moment. My head is full of Florence.