Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan criticises soap for 'sexualising' her and making her 'parade around in knickers like a mad nymphomaniac' aged just 16

Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan has criticised the soap for 'sexualising' her and making her 'parade around in knickers like a mad nymphomaniac' aged just 16. 

The actress, 35, who is best known for playing Rosie Webster on the cobbles, made her first appearance in 2000. 

She starred on the soap until 2012, then reprised her role in 2017 when she returned for a year. 

When Helen was 16, her then-15-year-old character Rosie was groomed by teacher John Stape (Graeme Hawley), before being kidnapped and held hostage by him after their relationship was exposed and he was sacked. He was later revealed to be a serial killer.

Now, Helen has spoken out about being made to film 'sexualised' scenes with a 'much older man' while she was so young. 

'Was it morally right that I was expected to parade about in my knickers like some mad nymphomaniac when I was still just a teenager?' she told The Mirror. 

'Alison King, who plays Carla Connor, once kicked off in the green room, saying how disgusting it was that they were sexualising me when I was a young girl. 

'I didn't fully comprehend what she was talking about at the time - I do now, I get it. I had to do kissing and bedroom scenes with a man a lot older than me.'

The Daily Mail has contacted ITV for comment. 

Despite her recent claims, Helen has said she is ready to make a Coronation Street return, seven years on from her soap exit.  

Helen, still who lives nearby the Salford, Manchester-based set, told of how the job would be convenient as she co-parents her three children with her ex Scott Sinclair. 

In an interview she revealed: 'I'd love to go back to Coronation Street, but they just haven’t asked me and I live around the corner, but they just haven’t asked me.

'I'd love to, if they asked me. I'd come back, but they obviously haven't,' she told The Sun.

Earlier this year, Helen teased an epic return to the ITV soap and has even hinted at her first storyline. 

Corrie fans are desperate to know if the actress would ever return, and she told The Mirror: 'I would love to go back to back to Coronation Street.' 

She explained that being based in Bolton would mean that she would be able to work around her kids -  Matilda, nine, Delilah Six, and Charlie, three. 

The actress has even thought up a storyline that Rosie could take part in if she did make a comeback. 

Helen said: 'A single mum with a real storyline, with two kids that she dumps with Sally to have her Rovers return play out an iconic barmaid role.' 

Helen's comments come after she lifted the lid on her 'throuple' with David Haye.

She grabbed headlines after lifting the lid on her 'throuple' with the former heavyweight boxer, 45, in her upcoming book.

Helen and David enjoyed a brief romance after she split from her ex-fiancé Scott Sinclair, 36, with whom she shares three children - Matilda, 10, Delilah, seven, and Charlie, four. 

The pair first met when they both appeared on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2012, but did not reconnect for a decade.

They crossed paths again when Helen bumped into David at an awards ceremony in autumn 2022, before he later reached out after seeing a lingerie shoot she had done for Ann Summers. 

Helen's revelations about her throuple with David come after she recently hit out at footballer Scott for failing to attend their son's nativity, despite the fact that she spent Christmas apart from her three children. 

Recent reports also revealed Helen reportedly told David to dump his girlfriend, Sian Osborne, for her during their toxic relationship.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: 'Helen wanted David to leave Sian for her. She was mad about David and desperately wanted him to herself.

'But David cares deeply for Sian, and he was simply never going to leave her for Helen. That was out of the question.'

Daily Mail contacted Helen and David's representatives for comment at the time.