Thelma Barlow says Coronation Street has lost its humour

Thelma Barlow thinks \'Coronation Street\' has lost its sense of humour.

The 91-year-old actress - who played Mavis Wilton in the long-running soap - thinks the show has become too serious in recent years and has lost its famed ability to make its audience laugh.

She said: "The Street, when I was in it, had this wonderful thing of comedy, the comedy characters. It was held in such high regard when I was in it. And the warmth of the public was so noticeable.

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"I don\'t watch it regularly now. I occasionally will have a look but I don\'t see much to laugh at now. I think it is a shame.

"We used to get scripts where you\'d talk about nothing important, but they could be so real and so funny."

Thelma also believes \'Coronation Street\' has become unnecessarily complicated in recent years.

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She told the \'Distinct Nostalgia\' podcast: "They have so many more episodes and more and more storylines and more and more characters and you just get confused.

"There were only about 25 in the cast when I joined but now there are like 50, 60 or 70. So people have to keep track of their lives and what is happening to them.

"I am sure people would watch without the huge dramas that go on. I would think, \'Who wants to buy a house on a street with so many murders?\' "

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Thelma exited the cobbles in 1997, after 26 years on the soap, and has subsequently rejected "two or three" offers to return to the show.

She said: "I said when I was leaving I would never go back. Although I am just saying \'no\' on how I feel at the moment.

"They\'ve asked me back two or three times but I\'ve always said no because I feel as though I\'ve packed Mavis away in a box. I don\'t think I would know how to do her now."