A North East woman has landed a dream role working with the cast and crew of one of ITV's longest-running and most successful series.

Katie Stubbs, 22, from from Cleadon, South Tyneside, has swapped the streets of Sunderland for the walkways of Weatherfield after landing a job working on ITV's Coronation Street.

Ms Stubbs, who graduated from Sunderland University six months ago with a BA (Hons) Screen Performance degree, will now take on the role of assistant director on the iconic soap.

The 22-year-old has said the "surreal" development has left her very excited, and she is grateful to be working alongside the team.

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She said: “It’s still a very surreal experience, even after working there for over four months.

“I feel very grateful every time I am at Coronation Street. It’s such a lovely team of cast and crew to be a part of and everyone is very down to earth.

"The most recent storyline I’ve been working on is about Max and Griff’s gang and the issues around far-right extremism.

"I was third assistant director for a lot of the larger crowd scenes, where the bomb exploded.”

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Previously, the graduate had worked in the same capacity on another drama show with ITV, their hit series Emmerdale.

She worked alongside her father, Gary Stubbs, a freelance Director and Assistant Director, and University of Sunderland Programme Leader for MA.

“Working on Emmerdale with my dad was really amazing – almost surreal,” she added.

“Since I was little, we used to make short films together and enter them into competitions. He taught me a lot and has always been my biggest supporter, so working together was quite an achievement for us both.

“It’s something we always joked or talked about but being in the village and it actually happening was just an amazing experience. We were also the first daughter/father duo to work as part of the assistant director team on Emmerdale.”

“I’m currently still working at Coronation Street as I just love it there.

“I would absolutely love to work on another feature film, ideally Marvel or Disney. That would be the dream.”

Adding to her growing body of work, Ms Stubbs has also worked on programmes such as CBBC’s The Dumping Ground, BBC One’s King Gary, Netflix series The Last Kingdom, the BBC’s Gentleman Jack, Channel 5 series All Creatures Great and Small, ITV’s Vera as well as two feature films.

When speaking on the reasons for her success, she lists her hard work and determination, but also gives credit to the support she received from the University of Sunderland.

Speaking about his daughter’s success, Gary said: “It’s the most amazing feeling in the world to see Katie working as a director and doing so well in a job she loves, but it’s even better to have had the opportunity to work with her on some of the productions.

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"It was also really funny to see who could figure out we are related because on set she calls me Gary, not dad!

“Katie’s dream job from a young age was always to work on Corrie and now she’s doing it.

"I hope Katie is an inspiration to young people and proof that you can achieve your goals if you're willing to work hard.”