Corrie’s Kate lands murder mystery role - June 11 2007
Kate Ford films her first role since leaving Coronation Street - in ITV drama Blue Murder.

The actress bowed out of the Street in April after five years playing scheming Tracy Barlow.

Now she has landed a starring role as a mysterious witness in the detective drama starring Caroline Quentin.

Kate plays Adele, a woman who sees an attack outside a nightclub but takes a taxi home instead of calling police.

Investigators realise she holds the key to the case, set in the world of footballers and their Wags.

The fourth series of the ITV1 drama also features ex-EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing star Jill Halfpenny and former Street star Richard Fleeshman. They play mother and son in an episode of the detective series, which is filmed in Manchester.

Kieran Roberts, controller of drama in Manchester, said: "We couldn’t be happier with the casting for the new series of Blue Murder.

"It’s a real coup to feature Kate Ford in her first role since Coronation Street and she is perfect for the part of Adele.

"We are also very pleased to have Richard Fleeshman and Jill Halfpenny on board. They make a fantastic team as mother and son and have an amazing on-screen chemistry."


Street’s Tracy begins life in jail - April 3 2007
Scheming murderer Tracy Barlow sits alone in her prison cell with nothing for company but a picture of her daughter.

The cold-blooded killer, played by Kate Ford, has begun life behind bars following her guilty verdict for murder shown in last night’s gripping episode of Coronation Street.

Unlike her mother Deirdre, who was sensationally jailed in 1998 for a fraud she did not commit, Tracy is guilty as charged.

Deirdre’s prison term sparked a national campaign to release her which even received the backing of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

However, Tracy is set to serve her full 15-year sentence for bashing boyfriend Charlie Stubbs on the head with an ornament.

Her fate now decided, these dramatic pictures are from an episode of the ITV1 soap due to be screened on Sunday April 8. This is the first and last time that fans will see Tracy as she turns her back on her family when they refuse to fund an appeal for her.

Her daughter, Amy, will leave the Barlow household to begin life with her father, Steve McDonald.

Viewers previously watched super-bitch Tracy confess her guilt to her mother, played by Anne Kirkbride, who then had to wrestle with her conscience over whether to tell the truth.

Two endings to the court case were filmed but producers decided that the only option was to see Tracy go down as she had falsely claimed to be the victim of domestic abuse after a violent and pre-meditated murder.

A spokesman said: "Coronation Street is a moral show where cheats and murderers rarely prosper, so there was no way Tracy could ever get away with this crime."

Corrie court show planned - Mar 23 2007
With Tracy Barlow’s murder trial gripping the nation, a new documentary will look back at other Weatherfield residents who have been dragged through the courts.

Coronation Street: In The Dock - which will be narrated by Phillip Schofield - will see the soap’s Kate Ford (who plays ’Toxic Tracy’) chatting about her character’s legal troubles.

Fans will also see old favourites like Mark Eden, better known as Rita’s psychotic partner Alan Bradley, reflecting on his character’s deception and actual bodily harm case in 1989.