Coronation Street star Mollie Winnard is the latest star to swap the cobbles for a rival soap amid budget cuts.

In June last year it was revealed that the cast of the ITV soap were 'left furious over budget cuts as they suffered another blow' after stars were getting axed and episodes were slashed. 

In recent months the likes of Daniel Brocklebank (who plays Billy Mayhew), Colson Smith (PC Craig Tinker) and Sue Cleaver (Eileen Grimshaw) have said goodbye to Weatherfield.  

Actress Mollie, 29, played Kayla Clifton for 35 episodes on the show in 2018. 

Her alter-ego, who was the daughter of Neil and Marsha Clifton, appeared on the cobbles between April and July that year. 

Kayla's storyline involved growing close to Craig Tinker and getting her own back on Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon) after getting her evil PC dad Neil (Ben Cartwright) put in prison.  

Now, according to The Sun, eight years on from her stint on Corrie, the star has joined the cast of BBC's Waterloo Road.

The soap star has landed a role as a teacher called Gemma Tully and she will be appearing in eight episodes of the show. The Daily Mail has contacted the BBC for comment. 

Series 17 of Waterloo Road aired in January 2026. It is not known when the 18th series will be hitting the channel. 

After appearing on Corrie, Mollie landed the role of Maggie in All Creatures Great and Small in 2020. 

She's also starred in Four Lives, Happy Valley and Silent Witness. This year she's also taken on the role of Eleanor Elmsley in Apnas. 

Just last month it was revealed that Coronation Street star Brooke Vincent has announced that she's joining rival soap Hollyoaks in a huge TV comeback.

The actress, 33 - who is best known for playing Sophie Webster on the ITV show - confirmed the news with her 917k followers on Instagram.

Brooke took on the role of Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and Sally Webster's (Sally Dynevor) youngest daughter Sophie in 2004 and stayed on the programme until 2019. 

Now, after seven years away from soap land, the mum-of-two has landed a new role on the rival soap Hollyoaks.  

Brooke shared some snaps of herself standing outside the welcome sign to Hollyoaks village with the caption: 'So excited to be joining the cast of Hollyoaks for such a powerful storyline!! 

'I am so grateful for this opportunity to be back on screen playing a brand new character plus my family will be happy I’m back in a full time job Haha.' 

Last June it was revealed The Coronation Street cast had reportedly been 'left furious over budget cuts as they suffered yet another blow'.

It was reported that the ITV soap was set to have its episode count slashed by bosses after already seeing a number of stars axed from the programme. 

The cuts put another 'dampener' on the cast as their annual summer party was said to have been cancelled. 

A source told The Sun at the time that the stars have organised and paid for their own get together instead.

They explained: 'It’s been a difficult few months and people were really looking forward to the party, but it puts a bit of a dampener on things that they have to pay.

'It might not be a lot to some of the bigger known stars but for some staff it is. The fact that drinks aren’t included is a real blow too.'