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<\/p>\nCONTAINS SPOILERS: Coronation Street’s Sue Devaney has had a glittering TV career and is currently at the centre of one of the soap’s biggest storylines. Looking back ahead of another dramatic episode, she reveals the advice she’s glad she ignored<\/p>\n
06:00, 06 Feb 2026Updated 09:03, 06 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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Coronation Street star Sue Devaney<\/p>\n
As a young actress, Coronation Street star Sue Devaney was advised by a casting director to have limb lengthening surgery to improve her chances of landing roles. Luckily the 5ft actress, whose character Debbie Webster is at the centre of one of Coronation Street<\/a>\u2019s biggest storylines, ignored him.<\/p>\n At 58, the star, who has also enjoyed long-running roles in Dinnerladies and Casualty, is now very comfortable in her own skin. But she recalls: \u201cWhen I was in London and I was starting out, I was told by a casting director that I could have an operation to put extra bone in my knees to make me taller, because I\u2019d never work at my height. They said it would give me an extra couple of inches.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat this industry says to you is crazy. Especially when you\u2019re young, because you think \u2018maybe he\u2019s right, maybe I\u2019m not going to work at this height and with this accent.\u2019 I\u2019d turn up to castings talking with a posh RP voice, because I thought they wanted a blank canvas.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Emmerdale favourite is terrified his secret will be exposed after Corriedale horror<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBut at this age, I feel comfortable in my own skin. I\u2019m comfortable with the voice that I\u2019ve got and I feel comfortable playing Northern women. When I was younger, I did anything to change that. Now I think acting is about knowing your limitations and knowing what you can do. I love Shakespeare, but I didn\u2019t train, so give me Northern comedy and I know where I am with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Alone in her prison cell, Debbie\u2019s vision becomes blurred and she collapses. (Image: ITV)<\/p>\n As Chariot Square hotel owner Debbie, Sue\u2019s hilariously blunt character has certainly made an impact. She made her cobbles debut as Kevin Webster\u2019s younger sister when she was just 16, staying for a year, before reprising the role in 2019. Diagnosed with early onset dementia last year, Debbie has had some dramatic storylines. And, viewers have seen her take the blame for the Corriedale car crash that saw beloved vicar Billy Mayhew die, in order to save her secret son Carl, who was actually at the wheel.<\/p>\n In shocking scenes last night (Thurs Feb 5) she suffered a TIA mini-stroke and collapsed in her prison cell after being jailed for two years and eight months for dangerous driving and causing Billy\u2019s death. But that is far from the end of Debbie\u2019s woes. Having grown up believing that Debbie was his sister, crooked Carl (Jonathan Howard) is so angry about being lied to for decades, he\u2019s refusing to speak to her. So, Debbie is shocked in the coming weeks, when a prison guard informs her that he has booked a visit.<\/p>\n Sue says: \u201cCarl comes to see her and decides to turn the situation to his advantage. He pulls on Debbie\u2019s heartstrings and she says she\u2019ll do everything she can to make it up to him. She\u2019s his mother and she just wants his love, however that is. She will still love him whatever he does and when she finds out he\u2019s not moving back to Germany and he\u2019s staying in Weatherfield, in her mind that\u2019s because he loves her and he doesn\u2019t want to leave her.\u201d<\/p>\n Sue Devaney played paramedic Liz Harker in TV hospital drama Casualty(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n Sue in Casualty(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n Inside prison Debbie is assigned former Street resident Lou Michaelis (Farrel Hegarty) as her carer. But despite Lou\u2019s warnings, Debbie falls foul of tough nut prisoner Paula, who she once barred her from her hotel. Sue reveals: \u201cShe makes a lovely friendship with Lou, but there\u2019s another inmate who is hard as nails and she gets into a few fights while she\u2019s in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, back on the cobbles, it\u2019s inevitably only a matter of time before her brother Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and her husband Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan) discover the truth about Carl\u2019s real identity. Luckily, off-screen, the Websters\u2019 relationships are far more harmonious. Sue laughs: \u201cThe Websters love each other off screen and we always have dinners out.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Johnny, Sally Carman<\/a> (Abi Webster) is one of my best mates \u2013 I adore her \u2013 and I\u2019ve known Mike for years and years; we can say anything to each other. Because I\u2019ve done a lot of theatre I love props, so I think \u2018what can I do in this scene? I\u2019m going to go into my handbag, I\u2019m going to put my lipstick on, I\u2019m going to do this or that.\u2019 And he\u2019ll say \u2018for goodness sake Sue, just stand there with your hands in your pockets, otherwise we\u2019re going to be here until 8pm at night!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sue on holiday in the Lake District with her husband Jim(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n Born in Rochdale, Lancashire, Sue was a jobbing actress for more than 40 years, before returning to Weatherfield. She is best-known for the three years she spent as Casualty paramedic Liz Harker and her two years as secretary Jane, alongside Victoria Wood, in Dinnerladies.<\/p>\n But down-to-earth Sue has cheerfully turned her hand to all sorts in order to make ends meet. She says: \u201cI\u2019d been offered a panto down in Basingstoke and I didn\u2019t want to go. My friend said to me \u2018do you want to be a robin at Tong Garden Centre near Leeds? Nobody will know it\u2019s you \u2013 we\u2019ll stick a beak on you \u2013 and pay you x amount of money.\u2019 I said \u2018absolutely\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I played a 5ft Christmas<\/a> robin elf, bringing all the children into the grotto and I\u2019m not talking years and years ago, this was the year before I got Corrie! Somebody said to me \u2018aren\u2019t you an actor, didn\u2019t you play Debbie Webster on Coronation Street?\u2019 And I went \u2018shut up, I\u2019m a robin today!\u2019 My parents never had a lot, so I could never go to the bank of mum and dad. Then they passed away when I was in my 20s and 30s, so I\u2019ve always fended for myself.<\/p>\n As the wedding gets underway, and Debbie Webster [SUE DEVANEY] performs with the dementia choir, will Carl Webster [JOHNNY HOWARD] and Kevin Webster [MICHAEL LE VELL] be able to keep their promise or is their feud about to ruin Debbie and Ronnie Bailey\u2019s [VINTA MORGAN] dream day? <\/p>\n \u201cSo, if I\u2019ve not worked for nine months I\u2019ve downsized. I\u2019ve done that twice. I sold my little cottage and bought an apartment. And then I sold the apartment and bought a little house. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done over the years to make do and mend. I\u2019m very good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Sue, who also teaches drama classes at a Manchester<\/a> sixth form college, adds: \u201cI\u2019ve realised that 95 per cent of my anxiety comes from not knowing how I\u2019m going to pay my bills and not knowing what my next job is. One of the things that has been brilliant about Corrie is that I\u2019ve not had to think about that for five years. I\u2019m given scripts every two weeks and I\u2019m able to do my craft day in, day out and that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n With Debbie\u2019s diagnosis however, Sue realises that her days on the cobbles are inevitably numbered, but she says she has fewer fears about the unknown than she previously used to, after finding love with former BBC<\/a> journalist Jim O\u2019Farrell. The couple, who live in Yorkshire, met on a plane coming back from Lanzarote in 2019 and tied the knot two years ago, when Sue was 56.<\/p>\n She says: \u201cNow I\u2019m in a relationship I feel less anxious. My husband is retired and he has a little pension. I don\u2019t have anything like that. But I\u2019ve come this far and I\u2019ve survived. When I was younger, I used to think: \u2018I might have kids, I might want to settle down eventually.\u2019 But it never happened. And when I reached the point where I couldn\u2019t have children, I thought \u2018right, that\u2019s fine, I can\u2019t go down that road.\u2019 Now I have somebody to share my world<\/a> with and I\u2019ve reached a certain age, I just want to make the most of every day.\u201d<\/p>\n *For more information: itv.com\/coronationstreet<\/a> and on Twitter<\/a>: @itvcorrie<\/p>\n![\"Alone](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_Sue-Devaney.jpg\")
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