Ellie Leach has told how she’s ‘so proud’ of her Coronation Street co-star as she continues to carve out her own post-soap career. The actress shot to fame playing Faye Windass in the ITV soap, a role she held for more than a decade until her exit in early 2023.

Ellie, 23, then later signed up for the 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing which ended up being a brilliant move as after 13 weeks of learning how to dance and performing her heart out each week alongside professional dance partner Vito Coppola, the pair emerged victorious

The pair faced stiff competition in the grand final back in December from Dianne Buswell and Bobby Brazier and Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin and were left speechless when host Tess Daly confirmed they were the winners of Strictly 2023 before they lifted the coveted Glitterball trophy.

Ellie and Vito and a number of their co-stars from the last series of the show performed in arenas up and down the UK in the Strictly Come Dancing Live 2024 tour before the dance partners and friends went their separate ways.

Then, following her success in the hit dance show, Ellie landed her first stage role in the play Cluedo 2 – The Next Chapter. She took over the role from Helen Flanagan at the eleventh hour and hit the ground running following the end of the Strictly tour in February.

Ellie has now told told WalesOnline about how the hit dance show has changed her life. She said: “I’ve always said that Strictly changed my life, and I think that people go, ‘I don’t know how a dance competition can change your life,’ but it’s so much more than that. I built so much confidence when doing Strictly that probably, if I hadn’t have done it, I maybe wouldn’t have said yes to doing Cluedo.

“I was so scared about doing theatre and being in front of a live audience and having that reaction straight away. It’s scary. It’s something that’s completely out of my comfort zone and new to me. Strictly gave me that confidence to be like, you know what, I’m going to try something new.”

And of of Ellie’s former Corrie co-star that is also doing particularly well since leaving the long-running show is Millie Gibson, who recently appeared as the Fifteenth Doctor’s (Ncuti Gatwa) companion Ruby Sunday in the latest series of Doctor Who. Ellie said of Millie, who played Kelly Neelan in the soap: “I’m honestly so proud of her. She’s amazing, and I’m glad that everyone can really see her talent.”

While she has no immediate plans to return to Coronation Street Ellie did say “never say never”. She added: “I’m really, really enjoying doing something new and being out of my comfort zone. It will always be a massive part of my life, and I will always cherish the memories that I’ve got there. It’s like my family. I grew up there. I was there for 12 years.”