Coronation Street actress whose Sheila Birtles suicide plot was pulled off air dies aged 94

Eileen Mayers passed away on 27 June, though the news has only now come to light. Her Coronation Street debut came in January 1961, playing Sheila, a factory worker, in the show's eighth episode. The original storyline had Sheila dying by suicide after a broken heart, but when word got out, public pressure was strong enough that producer Margaret Morris was compelled to rewrite it. The filmed footage remained unseen until 2011.

In the revised version, neighbour Len Fairclough pulled Sheila back from the brink and arranged for her to return to her parents.

Mayers recalled walking out of Granada into 'a wall of journalists' over the axed scenes.

She had begun acting at 15 at Oldham Repertory Theatre and went on to make 161 appearances in Corrie.