Three more axed from Coronation Street

Three more Coronation Street characters are to leave the show in the coming weeks, it has been reported.

Norris Cole's love interest Mary Taylor (pictured), downtrodden Paula Carp and barmaid Poppy Morales will apparently leave the ITV1 soap within weeks because bosses say the characters have made little impact.

All three have only been with the show for around six months.

A source told The Sun: "It's a real shame they're leaving but their characters haven't made a huge impact and we haven't got any more big storylines for them. We just can't afford to keep them on.

"We can't be sentimental and we felt their characters had run their course.

Paula - played by Sharon Duce - was brought in for a shock storyline when she revealed that she slept with the dad of her pal Eileen Grimshaw and that he fathered her daughter Julie.

But while Corrie bosses have apparently told Sharon that her contract will not be renewed, there's a chance that the character of Paula could return in the future.

Mary (Patti Clare) has failed to win over viewers with her slow-burning affair with Norris (Malcolm Hebden), and Poppy (Sophiya Haque) has not been able to liven up the Rovers Return.

The trio - who will leave in separate storylines - follow Ayesha Dharker (who plays Tara Mandal), Philip McGinley (Tom Kerrigan) and Edward de Souza (Colin Grimshaw), who were all axed from the soap last month.

A Coronation Street spokeswoman refused to comment on the reports.

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