Corrie star devastated as younger sister dies

[sallywebster]

From The Mirror.co.uk

Corrie star devastated as younger sister dies
By Brian Roberts 8/12/2008

SOAPS

Corrie legend Betty Driver has been left heartbroken after her younger sister Freda died following a long battle against illness.

Betty, 88, has been absent from the show since summer so she could care for her.

The pair were inseparable, living together in a house on the outskirts of Manchester with their boxer dogs Totti and Polly and cat Abby.

Freda, who went with Betty to Buckingham Palace in 2000 when she became an MBE, had been by her side throughout her 48-year Corrie career.

She fell ill earlier this year and Betty, who plays Rovers Return stalwart Betty Williams, took time out.

Viewers have not seen her for about five months - but Street chiefs are adamant the long-time favourite will return in the New Year.

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A source said: "Everyone is terribly sad at the news about Betty's sister Freda. We send Betty our sincere condolences and our heartfelt best wishes.

"They have been trying times for Betty as she and Freda were inseparable.

"Betty will be heartbroken at losing Freda. She will be welcomed back when she returns because it is fair to say she is one of the loveliest and most popular cast members."

Betty joined Corrie in the 60s and is now the longestserving female in the cast.

She once said she loved life on the Street, adding: "They'll have to shoot me if they want me to leave."

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Poor Betty. I was only thinking the other day how we havent seen her for ages on Corrie. Hope she comes back soon.

[Nick]

I read this too..Poor Betty...will look foward to seeing her again on screen ...and my best wishes go to her

[RitaLittlewood]

I read this in the paper. Bit wrong about longest serving female. That's Eileen. But it must have been really hard for her watching Freda suffer like that. My thoughts are with her.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

So many errors in that article - 48 year Corrie career? She has been in it 39 years.

Also she was in a episode a couple of months ago, just 1 scene with Emily and Reet in the Rovers. Hardly a five month break.

She talked about her sister a lot in her autobiography, they were very close. My thoughts are with her too.

[RitaLittlewood]

Again, isn't that Eileen?

Depends on when it was filmed. We often thought last year Barbara had filmed scenes which were slotted in somewhere because there wasn't much continuity.

Didn't they have a pub together when she got the part or something? I remember her saying she went up for Hilda but didn't get it.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

They probabaly got confused and thought they were writing about Eileen Derbyshire

I hope Betty will be able to get over her loss and return to Corrie in time for her 40th anniversary next June and her 90th birthday in 2010. At her age it will be difficult to get over losing someone she was so close to.

Thats right - she auditions for the part of Hilda. Yes she was running a pub and the producer told her she might as well come and pull pints in the Rovers as well! SHe said how production was much nicer back then as it was 2 eps a week and at the time of writing her autobiography it was 4 times a week.

[CG Wendy]

Poor Betty...my heart goes out to her. She was devoted to her sister. Not only will she feel her loss but their dogs will too

[sootycat]

Poor Betty, how sad for her.
I hope she will be back soon.

Strange to think that if she had got the Hilda role, we still would have Hilda Ogden in the street.

[RitaLittlewood]

And how different Hilda and Stan would have been. I really can't imagine anyone other than Jean.

Patsy