Kimberly Hart-Simpson has opened up about returning to Coronation Street. The actress, 38, first appeared on the ITV soap opera as Nicky Wheatley in 2020, with the details of her casting being released just one month prior. Her character was introduced as a love interest for Daniel Osbourne, played by Rob Mallard following the death of his wife, Sinead Osbourne (Katie McGlynn).
Unlike most jobs, Kimberly found out about her character from reading scripts which revealed that she was a sex worker. But while the industry, the oldest in the world, is often shrouded in shame – Nicky had "strong reasons" for working in the job and wanted to share a deeper meaning for those working in the sex industry.
Despite her character being written out in 2020, Kimberly's character has returned to Weatherfield on several occasions, most recently last year when Nicky she helped other women in the sex industry. "I thought it was brilliant," she said of landing the role of Nicky. She exclusively went on to tell the Mirror: "I thought the way they had written the character and how they'd developed Nicky over time has been well thought out, balanced and fair.
"She represented a lot of women that are single parents and their motive for doing it in terms of their family aspect, I think that's a great spin on it. We see her now as an outreach worker, so she's not she's not denying her past, she's used that for an advantage for a future. She's gone 'I can recognise what these girls are going through, or whoever it is in that industry' and now she's using it as transferrable skills.
