Denise Welch was mad for the banger during her stint on Corrie, and she now wants everyone to know about it - go buy her book! To be fair, she is highlighting the symptoms of depression, which are not to be sniffed at (apologies). In all seriousness, mental health issues should always be used to sell autobiographies *waves at Beverly Callard*; readers like knowing they're not alone with their demons.

Here's an extract from her (that being Denise's, not Beverly's) book, courtesy of The Mirror: "Shaking and sweating, Denise locked herself in the Coronation Street toilets, clutching a wrap of cocaine. Just a few feet away, on the set of the Rovers Return, her cast mates were filming Weatherfield stalwart Betty Drivers real life and on-screen 80th birthday celebrations. As the pub landlady and one of the soaps most famous faces, Denises character Natalie Barnes should have been in the hub of the scenes. But she had made an excuse to slip away and sneaked outside to score from a drug dealer. Now, bent over the toilet seat lid, she hastily chopped out a line of the class A drug with a credit card, pressed a rolled-up s10 note to one of her nostrils and snorted the lot. It wasn't even lunchtime and she was prepared to risk everything for a hit. Denise, shaking her head, says: 'It was my lowest moment. Id reached a point where I felt taking cocaine was the only way I could survive. I was suffering crippling depression and Id made myself believe coke was the only thing that could make me cope. In fact I was locked in a vicious circle because the more I took, the worse the comedowns would be. I was sinking deeper and deeper'... I'd become the master of getting out of scenes in the Rovers. I'd always be saying something like 'Don't you think Natalie would be in the toilet? Or in the Rovers living room?' It was ridiculous, but this was a particularly awful day and I felt very low. When you suffer with depression it can just hit you like that at any time and I could feel myself slipping. I didn't have any drugs on me and I knew the only way I could possibly keep going and stay on an even keel was to get some more'."

You'll be happy to hear that the current Loose Woman / Waterloo Road cast member has kicked the habit "when she became pregnant with her second son Louis, now 9. She has since discovered that her depression was caused by a hormone imbalance and now suffers low moments less frequently after being prescribed tablets."