Coronation Street have signed up show favourite for another year(Image: Getty Images)

Coronation Street star Barbara Knox has signed a new contract to stay on the soap past her 92nd birthday. It means the Weatherfield favourite will continue to grace the cobbles as Rita into 2026 and will be a major part of their 65th anniversary celebrations later this year.

Barbara, 91, who has played Rita Tanner on the show full-time since 1972, penned a new one-year deal, we can reveal. A source said: “Barbara secured her future on Coronation Street earlier this year and both her and show bosses are delighted fans will continue to see her on screen. She still loves the show and everyone involved with it – and viewers want to see Rita at the Rovers and in the Kabin for years to come. It’s a win-win situation.”

Barbara, centre as Rita Tanner, will continue to frequent Corrie’s Rovers Return after signing a new contract(Image: ITV)

Barbara is the oldest serving female soap star in the world. She is currently the second-longest-serving cast member in Corrie, behind William Roache, 92, who has played Ken Barlow since the first episode in December 1960. Insiders said ITV execs were eager to keep Barbara on board for the show’s 65th anniversary in December, where she’ll be central to the celebrations.

Her contract is thought to be worth in the region of £200,000 a year, making her one of the highest paid actors on the show.

Speaking on a special ITV documentary to mark her 90th 18 months ago, Rita – who turns 92 in September – vowed to remain on the show for as long as the bosses would have her. “And If they’re listening, I don’t want to retire,” she said.

The 91-year-old actress will continue on the ITV soap for another year

In a recent episode her character has been seen in The Rovers giving good counsel to her stepdaughter Jenny Bradley, who had fallen out with her own stepdaughter Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan). It was a welcome appearance by Rita – with fans hoping she will become a more regular part of the storyline as Daisy brings in her scheming mother Christina (Amy Robbins). As tensions in the pub become palpable, the pair plot to bring Jenny down with a catfishing scam.

Sally Ann Matthews, who plays Jenny, heaped praise on her co-star Barbara. She said the soap stalwart wants to work more – not less – and was as “sharp as a tack”. “Barbara ain’t going anywhere any time soon,” she said last year. “And in fact, she bemoans the fact that she’s not working more and she hasn’t got more lines to learn. I do think going forward that they are going to give her scenes where she’s got more dialogue, because she thrives off that.

Rita and stepdaughter Jenny, played by Sally Ann Matthews, who said Barbara is still as sharp as ever(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

“She just wants to have a three-page scene where she’s got something to get her teeth into, and she’s more than bl**dy capable of doing that, of learning the lines and going on. She’s 91 and she’s brilliant. Sharp as a tack. And still tells me off. So I can’t ask for more than that really, can I?”

Barbara was inspired to start acting after watching musicals at the cinema in her home town of Oldham and stage shows whilst on holiday in Blackpool with her parents. She then got lucky when a neighbour took her to dance lessons and on the way home would dream of hitting the big time. Years later Barbara was spotted in amateur theatre and was asked to go and act at Oldham Rep then became a full time actress.

Barbara first appeared in Corrie in 1964 for one episode but she wasn’t asked back until eight years later. Recalling the snub last year, she told fans at Manchester Pride, where she received the Icon Award: “You know, show business can be crap but it can be marvellous if you stick at it. I’d been in rep [repertory theatre], I’d done everything you were meant to do, I was always promised parts and I’d never got them and I’d done one thing or another, and then I got one episode in the Street and I thought, ‘I’m here’.

Rita and Mavis, played by Thelma Barlow, in the Weatherfield newsagents, The Kabin(Image: ITV / Rex Features)

“But then I never heard from them in ten years! It’s true. I did that one episode and I was convinced ‘I’m in!’. But no, nothing. So I go back in rep, and then ten years later I go back. And it’s just been a wonderful, wonderful journey.”

Her character Rita has survived three on-screen marriages, two near death experiences with trams (one at Blackpool) and one brain tumour. Her biggest moment on screen was the tram crash in 1989 which killed her violent ex-partner Alan Bradley whilst she survived. It was watched by 27 million viewers.

Barbara’s new contract will be music to Corrie fans’ ears after the show saw a string of high-profile exits over recent months, sparking talk of a crisis on the cobbles. Colson Smith was axed after playing Craig Tinker for 14 years. Charlotte Jordan also announced she’d quit the programme. They followed the shock departures of Helen Worth, who played Gail Platt for 50 years, and Sue Cleaver, who played Eileen Grimshaw. Co-stars Luca Toolan (Mason Radcliffe) and Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster) have also been written out by bosses recently

eanwhile Coronation Street legends Bill Roache, Michael Le Vell and Sally Dynevor have signed new year-long contracts earlier this year to remain on the ITV soap.

Soap insiders said Corrie boss Kate Brooks has worked hard to “steady the ship” and has made sure the show’s biggest stars were retained, with the 65th anniversary in mind.