Kimberley Walsh nearly landed role in Coronation Street

Kimberley Walsh was nearly cast as Maria Connor in \'Coronation Street\'.

The 38-year-old pop star has had several hits with girl group Girls Aloud, but she could\'ve become a soap star after she auditioned for the role on the ITV soap 20 years ago.

Appearing on \'The One Show\' on Tuesday (04.08.20), she explained: "I got down to the last two or three for Maria in \'Coronation Street\', so yeah, things could have been very different."

While Kimberley missed out on the cobbles part, Samia Longchambon landed the role and still plays the hairdresser.

Instead, the singer auditioned for the reality series \'Popstars: The Rivals\' in 2002 and won a place in Girls Aloud with Cheryl Tweedy, Sarah Harding, Nadine Coyle, and Nicola Roberts.

Together, the group landed four number one hits and two number one albums, as well as gaining five BRIT nominations before splitting in 2012.

Years later, bandmate Sarah Harding landed a spot on \'Corrie\' as Tracy Barlow\'s (Kate Ford) arch-nemesis Joni Preston, appearing in five episodes in 2015.

What\'s more, Kimblerley\'s sister Amy Walsh currently appears in \'Emmerdale\' as Tracy Metcalfe, who she has played since 2014.

And Kimberley and Amy\'s sibling Sally Walsh played Dales character Lyn Hutchinson - who dated Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) only to break up with him on his 25th birthday - from 1997 to 2000.

Kimberley has gone on to star in a number of West End shows, making her theatre debut as Princess Fiona in \'Shrek the Musical\' in 2012, and she starred in \'Ackley Bridge\' in 2018.