A PREGNANT pause in the career of ex-Coronation Street star Denise Welch will end when she stars in pantomime.
The 42-year-old North-East actress, who is expecting her second child next month, has been signed up to play the title role in Jack and the Beanstalk at Newcastle's Theatre Royal from December 12.
Denise played Rovers Return landlady Natalie Barnes, but quit the Street in the New Year and has no plans to return.
The Tyneside venue ran pantos in 1998 and 1999 featuring Philip Middlemiss, her screen husband, Des Barnes, in the soap.
The Theatre Royal has also announced that Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard will run for five weeks in the autumn.
A first £1.2m UK touring version of the musical will be at Newcastle between September 11 and October 6.
A spokesman for Lord Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Company said: "A decision is being made at the moment whether the show, which is a well-known name, will sell itself or if we are going to add a star name."
Tickets for Jack and the Beanstalk and Sunset Boulevard go on sale on Monday, March 5. The box office number is 0191-232 2061.
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