Street's pint-pulling novice

Street fan James has not worked on TV before

ITV soap Coronation Street is gearing up to present its latest Rovers Return recruit in the shape of a 21-year-old TV newcomer.

Jennifer James will become the next in a long line of barmaids in the Street's local when she appears as the sultry Geena Gregory next Wednesday.

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She has only worked in the theatre and appeared in a couple of adverts since graduating from drama school last summer.

But lifelong Street fan James, from Wigan in Greater Manchester, says she was delighted to discover she was to be the soap's 31st female pint-puller.

"It was fantastic. I have watched Coronation Street since I was little so it is a bit scary to be working alongside all the people I have grown up with."

Casting directors declare they knew James was perfect for the part of Geena when they saw her playing a barmaid in a production at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.

Geena is described by the scriptwriters as the ideal barmaid - able to talk soccer with the men without making enemies of the women.

Amy's departure leaves a gap

Before her arrival at the Rovers, she was working at the rival pub The Feathers but crosses over to fill the gap left by the sudden departure of obsessed Amy Goskirk.

Amy, played by actress Jane Ashbourne, makes a hasty exit after she is rumbled as a fraud by ex-lover Dev Alahan over her pretence to have attempted suicide.