Coronation Street's Anne Kirkbride (Deirdre Barlow) is dead, aged 60

Coronation Street star Anne Kirkbride is dead.  She died after a brief illness aged 60 years.

 

Kirkbride joined the soap (Coronation Street) in the early 1970s and played Deirdre Barlow for 44 years.  She appeared in 1,439 episodes.

 

She was once diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 1993 but after a successful treatment returned to the soap within 12 months.