What did you think of Kirsty?

(This post was originally posted by me on the Coronation Street Blog in September 2011.)

This week we met Kirsty, the woman that's going to be Tyrone's new love. Natalie Gumede is playing her and so far, I think I like her. She is confident and forward and that seems to be the type Tyrone goes for. On first glance, you might think she's a Cheryl Gray clone, with those long legs and all that hair but I think Kirsty is going to be a bit more sparky than Cheryl.

Natalie was born in Burnley and grew up in Colne in the Pendle area. She has been interested in the theatre since she was a child and performed in a local youth theatre, the Pendle Hippodrome Youth Theatre as well as in other Pendle theatres.

You can read a bit more about here here. She's also appeared in a number of television roles since graduating from the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Her IMDB information is here and she's got her own website. She's got a blog on the site and wrote about her debut on Corrie. She says that "It thankfully wasn't too painful to watch". She thinks that watching your performances, especially when starting something new, is beneficial even if you're uncomfortable watching yourself on screen. You can follow her on Twitter here.

What were your first impressions of Kirsty?