Old actors never die - they just turn up in the soaps.

Is it the steady work and a regular pay cheque that attracts them, or have soaps become more respectable?

No sooner will Roy Hudd depart Coronation Street than he'll be replaced by another veteran performer, Bernard Cribbins, walking along the famous cobbled Weatherfield pavement.

Hudd's character, undertaker Archie Shuttleworth, is being written out after the comedian and actor decided not to renew his contract. The heavy work schedule demanded by a soap is believed to have deterred the 66-year-old from carrying on.

Archie won't leave in a coffin, but live to fight another day and perhaps may make the occasional appearance when the writers, and Hudd, feel the need.

Deirdre's mother Blanche Hunt, one of those who've dallied with Archie's affections, won't feel lonely. Next month sees the arrival of millionaire Wally to sweep her off her feet at a tea dance.

He'll be played by Bernard Cribbins, another old-timer - and I use the word in the nicest possible way - who'll be familiar to viewers from Carry On films and songs like Right Said Fred.

He joins an ever-growing list of famous faces popping up in the big soaps.

Gone are the days when the only famous face to be spotted in a soap belonged to celebrities making guest appearances as themselves. Then, casts were filled out with unknowns or youngsters at the start of their careers. Nowadays, producers aren't afraid to let actors swap from one soap to another. That leads to situations like North-East actress Jill Halfpenny playing a nurse who breaks up Martin Platt's marriage in the Street and then turning up a year or so later as the new woman in Phil Mitchell's life in EastEnders.

Viewers are ready to accept these strange turns of events, just as they like to see someone they know behind the bar of the Queen Vic in Walford or propping up the bar in the Woolpack in Emmerdale.

Introducing new characters and, more importantly, having them accepted by viewers is difficult and takes time. Put someone people recognise in the part and half the battle is won.

Often, these actors are past the leading role stage and ready to accept a job that gives them a steady salary, without having to worry where the next job is coming from. Even if they don't stay long, they've raised their public profile and can hopefully exploit that to get more work.

No wonder Shane Richie, currently pulling pints in the Vic, says: "I'm happy to be in EastEnders - and to stay here for the rest of my life."

He joined the cast after a marriage break-up and financial problems. The producers couldn't have picked a better man to play Alfie Moon. Richie has settled into the Walford way with hardly a hiccup, a case of a role fitting an actor like a glove despite him being well-known in other showbiz areas.

Barbara Windsor was one of the first big names to be cast in a soap. It was a risk casting someone with the image of a busty blonde in Carry On comedies in a serious role as the Mitchell matriarch, mother of bully boys Grant and Phil. But, as Peggy, the actress has shown herself capable of handling some of EastEnders' most dramatic storylines.

The actresses playing the Slater sisters were unknown to viewers before moving into the Square, but producers turned to a familiar face when casting relative Harry Slater. Michael Elphick, who'd played private eye Boon and journalist Harry, was engaged to became unsavoury Uncle Harry who, it emerged, had raped his niece.

And anther well-known face, that of Hywel Bennett, will be seen in Albert Square next month as gangster Jack Dalton.

For pop star pin-ups, a soap can provide a springboard into acting. Fans of Martin Kemp from his Spandau Ballet days might have been shocked to see him as bad boy Steve Owen in EastEnders. But the part launched him on a TV career as a leading man without his New Romantic image getting in the way. Keith Duffy was hardly unknown when he landed a role as an Irish charmer in Coronation Street, although he was recognisable not as an actor but as a member of Boyzone and one of the Celebrity Big Brother inmates.

Emmerdale is becoming increasingly inhabited by performers who've been keeping a lower profile than in their heyday. Chirpy cockney Lorraine Chase, famous for commercials promoting Luton Airport, arrived in the Yorkshire-set soap to join another old face, Patrick Mower, star of police shows like Target. The ghosts of their famous roles didn't stop soap fans accepting them in other parts.

After the bad experience of Soapstars, in which a new family was recruited through a TV talent contest, the makers must have decided it was wiser to stick with people they knew rather than gamble on newcomers again.

Putting famous faces in the cast doesn't always work. When ITV's Crossroads was revamped for the second time earlier this year, new producer Yvon Grace peopled the Midlands hotel with many actors - led by Jane Asher as the bitchy owner - we knew from other things. Then she recruited a string of guest stars, including Lionel Blair, Tim Brooke Taylor and Birds Of A Feather's Linda Robson, to put in appearances. This time, familiarity did breed contempt. Viewing figures slumped to new lows and Crossroads has been axed again.

Published: 26/04/2003