EX Coronation Street star Ellie Leach revealed her new role in The Good Ship Murder and admitted her character couldn’t be more different from anything she’s played before.

Ellie bowed out of Corrie in 2023 after 12 years on the soap.

Since leaving Weatherfield, Ellie’s star has only risen.

Just months after quitting the ITV soap she went on to lift the Glitterball Trophy, winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2023 with her partnership with Vito Coppola.

Now, with a bold new character, Ellie has revealed her next chapter.

She’s joined the Channel 5 murder mystery series starring Shayne Ward as ex-detective turned singer Jack Grayling, who teams up with First Officer Kate Woods (Corrie’s Catherine Tyldesley) to solve crimes on a luxury cruise ship.

The actress teased fans with a behind-the-scenes clip from her new set, introducing her latest role Mimi McQueen, with scenes flashing up as she spoke to camera.

“She is not like anyone that I’ve played before,” Ellie said.

“I’m playing Mimi McQueen — she’s very sassy, she’s giving ‘boss’, and I loved it.”

Ellie admitted the role pushed her out of her comfort zone, describing Mimi as “quite rude to people” – something she found challenging.

“I don’t wanna be rude to people!” she laughed.

But she added there was more beneath the surface.

She said: “Deep down she’s actually quite a nice, normal person, but this whole persona of being a star really comes out.

“That’s what I love most about her.”

Ellie appeared in episode 2 of series 3 of the cruise-ship drama, after its festive first special last week.

The third series follows Jack and Kate as they visit Cannes alongside an all-star cast – including rising star Mimi McQuinn.

Unfortunately Mimi is the show’s latest victim.

The role is a far cry from Ellie’s time on the Cobbles, where she played troubled but kind-hearted school girl Faye Windass.

Last year she opened about fearing her “life was over” when she was written out of the soap.

Ellie said: “On Corrie, when I got told that they had a storyline for me, but it was going to be an exit storyline, obviously I was like: ‘Oh my God, my life is over…”

“I was like ‘I don’t have anything. I don’t have a job and I don’t know when the next one is going to come.

“If the next one is going to come. Thank god Strictly came a couple of weeks after

“It is like a blessing in disguise. If that didn’t happen then I wouldn’t have had the year that I’ve had.”

Ellie joined the cast of Coronation Street in 2011.

She played Faye Windass until 2023.

At the time of the news she was leaving, an insider told us: “Ellie’s been on the soap since she was 10 years old so it’s all she’s known, she sees the cast like an extension of her family.

“She’s sad to be leaving, but grateful that her character won’t be killed off.

“She’s going to have a go at trying other acting roles for a bit.”

The soap star has been involved in a number of hard hitting storylines over the years, including teen pregnancy, early menopause and even being sent to prison for attacking a neighbour.

Ellie also went on to star in the reality show Drama Queens.