Coronation Street fans were left saying 'no way' when Tracy Barlow left the street after more than 20 years in the van of her new love interest Tommy Orpington. Viewers of the ITV soap saw the divisive yet much-loved character, played by
Actress Kate Ford, saying her goodbyes - 47 years after she first appeared in Weatherfield when she was born on-screen in an episode in January 1977. While it wasn't until 2002 that Kate picked up the role, in those 22 years has faced a whole host of storylines from killing her ex Charlie Stubbs in cold blood to drugging Roy Cropper and faking they had slept together before finding out she was pregnant. But earlier this week, Tracy said her goodbyes to her family and left the street. As viewers of the long-running show know, Tracy recently ended her marriage with Steve McDonald after her affair with former footballer Tommy was revealed. However, after it was revealed former footballer Tommy had accepted a coaching
Job in
Spain, Tracy was gutted and left feeling alone. READ MORE: Coronation Street's Daisy star responds as she's told she should be 'axed' and will 'never make Hollywood' READ MORE: Read more of our Coronation Street stories here She decided she wanted to try again with Steve but unbeknownst to her, Tommy had written to Tracy to ask her to move with him - only for Steve to intercept the mail and burn the letter. With the truth having outed, Tracy dumped Steve again and pressed on with her plans to leave with Tommy. Ken Barlow arranged some leaving drinks in the Rovers. After that, she then hugged it out with her nearest and dearest outside her family home and left the cobbles with Tommy in his van, seemingly for good, before being watched by a heartbroken Steve as he left Dev's shop with a pack of beers. As Tracy's exit aired, Kate, who has yet to confirm her soap future, took to
Social Media and shared a cryptic snap on her
Instagram Story. The soap star shared a snap of public transport, which had the destination of "Orpington" on the front, in an apparent nod to her character Tracy's new love interest. Tracy said her goodbyes (Image: ITV) However, it is more likely a play on the name as it's also an area in southeast
London and fans may not be aware that Kate actually lives in the capital with her son and commutes between there and Salford where the Corrie set is based. As mentioned earlier, Kate wasn't actually the first person to play Tracy. The daughter of Deirdre and Ray Langton, and the adoptive daughter of Ken Barlow, was first portrayed as a baby and toddler by Christabel Finch until late 1983, before Holly Chamarette took on the character from mid-1985 to 1988, with Dawn Acton following in the 90s. Kate actually had a taste of the spotlight at the age of 19 when she starred in the
music video for The Beatles' song Free as a Bird in 1995, where she can be seen during a 1960s street scene. She then picked up small parts in shows including one-episode stints on EastEnders and Doctors, before becoming the fourth actress to play Tracy. Kate during her early years on the ITV soap (Image: Granada Television) Away from the ITV soap, Kate has had to endure her own trials and tribulations, including when her marriage to TV producer Jon Connerty broke down. The couple, who share one son together, Otis, married in 2007 before divorcing in 2015. In an interview with The Sun, the mum-of-one, who previously dated BAFTA-nominated
Actor Bart Ruspoli, who had a brief stint on EastEnders, for a short while in 2000, said that the separation was "incredibly painful", but acting helped her to move on. "When Jon and I first parted it was quite hard to put my personal life aside," she explained. "We really tried hard to make it work. But it came to the point when we knew we had to get a divorce. Things had changed and it wasn't what it was. But it was incredibly painful. For a while after we split, I found it hard to get out of bed. I wasn't at work at the time, and I'd drop Otis off at school and go back to bed until I picked him up. But then it became therapeutic to concentrate on my job. People call it 'Doctor Theatre' - when you're acting, you can't worry about things." Kate has suffered ill health behind the scenes (Image: Kate Ford Instagram) Meanwhile, the soap star also battles an illness behind the scenes. Kate suffers from endometriosis - an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus. She opened up to her Instagram followers last year, sharing a selfie in her ITV filming jacket. Writing to her thousands of followers, Kate said: "Filming #itvcorrie this was a few weeks ago at a time that I was struggling with my #endrometriosis. She added: "Luckily got lots of support x just sending a hug out to all those struggling with similar," followed by a red love heart. Kate had previously mentioned her endometriosis during the first
Coronavirus lockdown in 2020, when she tweeted: "As someone with grade four endometriosis, I realise how much I rely on my massage therapy to help with this. "Due to COVID I’ve not been able to visit my therapist for three months. My body is sore, I’ll never take this therapy for granted again xx."