Amanda Barrie as Alma Baldwin alongside Johnny Briggs as Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street (Image: GranadaTelevision)
Amanda Barrie has shared the spirited attitude that helps her stay positive about getting older, while admitting that her determination to manage alone can sometimes land her in trouble. The former Coronation Street actress, who turned 91 this month, reflected on ageing and her complicated feelings about accepting assistance from others.
In her column for The i Paper, Amanda recalled a recent incident in which refusing help after leaving a taxi had an unfortunate outcome.
“I recently pulled my Achilles tendon and, at the moment, am experiencing considerable difficulty walking,” she wrote.
“Yet when a taxi driver got out of his cab to assist me, I took off at speed to escape him, then tripped over the curb and did my Achilles even more damage.”
The Coronation Street star has spoken candidly about her health struggles (Image: ITV)
The actress also revealed that she has been dealing with ongoing problems affecting her eyesight.
She explained: “My eyesight has never been quite right since I suffered a retinal vein occlusion many years ago, leaving me totally unable to judge the distance and speed of oncoming traffic.”
Moorfields Eye Hospital describes retinal vein occlusion as a blockage in one of the veins that carries blood away from the eye. The condition can lead to a sudden and painless loss of vision, particularly in older adults.
Even so, Amanda insists she refuses to let her health concerns dictate her life. “But still I protest. ‘I’m fine,’ I say, stepping in front of a truck. ‘Absolutely fine’,” she joked.
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Although many people have retired by the time they reach her age, Amanda said continuing to work provides “a real incentive to keep going in every way possible”.
She has, however, ruled out returning to pantomime. The actress joked that she would not want to frighten children if she suffered an accident and had to be “hauled off stage on a stretcher”.
Amanda Barrie appeared in the classic film Carry On Cleo (Image: Getty Images)
Amanda says there is no special formula behind her longevity. Instead, she considers herself “blessed” and maintains that she has not “done much to deserve” living such a long and eventful life.
One of her best-known television roles was Alma Halliwell in Coronation Street, a character she played on and off over a period of 20 years.
Between 2003 and 2006, she appeared as Bev Tull in the ITV prison series Bad Girls. Her wide-ranging career has also included the Carry On films, Casualty, Benidorm and Holby City, as well as Celebrity Big Brother. More recently, she appeared in Amandaland as part of a Comic Relief special.
Amanda is now preparing for appearances at two upcoming book festivals, where she will promote her memoir, I’m Still Here: My 90 Years. She is also starring in a new advertising campaign for Irn-Bru.
Looking back on her years on the Cobbles, Amanda previously said she had worried she could lose her job if Coronation Street bosses discovered her sexuality. She married Hilary Bonner in 2014 and later publicly identified as bisexual in her autobiography, It’s Not A Rehearsal.
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain in June, she described the emotions she experienced when she opened up later in life: “I felt as if I was sort of cheating in some way, that although all my friends, family, anybody have always known what I was doing, which has been varied over the years, I give you that, but it felt that I couldn’t be honest.”
After making her sexuality public, Amanda said she was amazed that “absolutely nothing” negative happened. Instead, she recalled receiving “more of a hug than a stone thrown at me”.