What an Honor for the Street

Former Bond girl Honor Blackman is to join Coronation Street.

The glamorous 76-year- old, best known for playting Pussy Galore in the Bond film Goldfinger, will spice up proceedings as a flirty pensioner.

Her move is part of a growing trend - following Patsy Kensit in Emmerdale - of soaps hiring well-known faces to boost ratings.

Miss Blackman is one of the most famous Bond girls, having starred opposite Sean Connery in the 1964 film. She is best remembered for her introduction - 'My name is Pussy Galore' - to a bemused Bond as he wakes from a drugged sleep.

Miss Blackman earlier came to fame as leather cat-suited action girl Cathy Gale in the Sixties TV hit The Avengers. She made a small-screen comeback in the nineties in the comedy sitcom The Upper Hand, playing a flirtatious grandmother.

She will play a similar role when she joins the Street in September. Sparks are set to fly when her character, Rula Romanoff, comes face to face with Street veteran Rita Sullivan.

The two are old foes from the time that Rita, a newsagent, spent on stage as a singer. Their rivalry continues on the Street when Rula seduces Norris, Rita's colleague at her shop, the Kabin.