Audrey outs Rita as love-cheat

Corrie's script-writers are set to unleash a shocking secret that has laid dormant in the murky nooks and crannies of the Street's collective psyche f

11:54 10 August 2005

Corrie's script-writers are set to unleash a shocking secret that has laid dormant in the murky nooks and crannies of the Street's collective psyche for years.

Rita Sullivan, the long-standing owner of the Kabin and doyenne of Weatherfield, once conducted a tempestuous relationship with now-dead Alf Roberts.

Rita, played by 67-year-old Barbara Knox, is finally found out when Alf's widow Audrey finds an undeveloped camera film while clearing out her dead husband's belongings.

The resulting photos are enough to shock the most hardened of Corrie fans - they depict Rita and Alf in a steamy embrace on Blackpool beach.

The resulting feud between Rita and Audrey is set to "divide all the other residents on the Street", a Corrie mole told the Daily Star.

Audrey, furious that her old friend once betrayed her, calls Rita "a red-haired hussy and an old slapper".

Rita has been no stranger to romance. In over thirty years on the soap she has been married to builder Len, nasty Alan and nice Ted, so to some the dangerous liaison with corner-shop owner Alf will come as no surprise.