Coronation Street's Claire Sweeney flooded with messages from fans amid new partnership

Claire Sweeney was flooded with messages from Coronation Street fans as she was seen seemingly in the show's next new partnership. Fans were left hailing some of the ITV soap's recent scenes as the actress' character Cassie Plummer teamed up with Steve McDonald.

The pair were seen going on their own revenge mission during scenes aired during Monday night's (July 1) Corrie. It started with Steve's birthday party - or at least not the one he was expecting - as he marked his 50th birthday. Convinced his family were throwing him a surprise 50th, the birthday boy, played by Simon Gregson, was disappointed when Cassie and Ken threw him a small home gathering with Rita Tanner and Brian Packham as guests.

Soon after, to discover Tim and Sally Metcalfe are at the unveiling of former Weatherfield County hero-turned-love rival Tommy Orpington's bust instead. Cassie offered to drive him to the event to confront them. Once there they discover a way to get revenge on Tommy once and for all.

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The pair ended up nicking the new bust, swapping it for a football with a drawing of a person on, much to Tommy's horror. Later, Tim and Sally returned home from the do only to find Tommy's bust hiding in their bed.

Sharing a clip from the brilliantly-received scenes, Claire, 53, wrote on Instagram: "You are not leaving me with the cast of Cocoon! @coronationstreet a great episode last night written by @damonrochefort @jojeharvey such fun working with @fat_dracula."

And her fans and followers were quick to respond with praise and support. @elainer__ said: "Cassie & Steve could be the next Hilda & Stan or Jack & Vera. Great duo." @gez4eva commented: "Hardcore ACTING !!!! The nuance of each word, the delivery, the facial expressions - BRAVAAAA."

@claudiamredmond wrote: "Love your character and of course Steve - so funny together." @cath.osullivan.3 replied: "Bloody brilliant, I hope you get together with steve." @rebeccap33 added: "I abs love you two together! Can’t wait to see what happens! Genius one liners written for both of you, you need to be together!!"

It comes after Claire was heard having ditcher her usual accent - but it wasn't as it seemed. The actress, who hails from Liverpool, made her debut on the cobbles as Cassie back in June 2023 after it was revealed she'd been cast as Tyrone Dobbs' real mum and the daughter of fan favourite Evelyn Plummer.

But Claire landed her first major role in Brookside, initially as a recurring character from 1991 and then as a leading character from 1995 until the programme ended in 2003. From then on, her career went from strength to strength with a few more TV appearances under her belt, both as an actress and as a presenter, while also carving out a successful theatre career.

Taking to Instagram over the weekend, the soap star shared a clip from The Good Ship Murder in which she starred alongside former Corrie stars Catherine Tyldesley and Shayne Ward as the fiercely ambitious First Officer Kate Woods and cabaret singer turned detective Jack Grayling.

Claire plays Cruise Director Beverley Carnell and was recently seen out in Malta filming for a second series of the Channel 4 show alongside Catherine, Shayne and former Hollyoaks star Ross Adams who is said to be joining the cast as new character Colin Smallwood.

But in the clip from series one, the British stars' voices had been dubbed over for audiences in Hungary. Captioning the post, Claire said: "When you are dubbed in Hungarian for Good ship murder thanks @auntiecath17 @paulmatthewthompson @clapperboard_st @shaynetward."