Soap star Michelle Keegan has been taking acting lessons following her departure from Coronation Street.

The 26-year-old's alter ego, Tina McIntyre, will be seen plunging from a balcony at the builders' yard after a dramatic confrontation with her killer tonight.

Keegan said: "I'm having more training, which I'm doing for confidence. I've been playing one character for over six years and I need to refresh. So I'm having one-to-one classes and some dialect coaching for accents."

Of the dialect coaching, she said: "I've got a very strong Manchester accent and it can be easier to get a part if you're able to neutralise it. So that's what I'd like to do."

In the run-up to her exit, former The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright helped Keegan with her lines by "playing Rita", but the actress said that she would not want to present a show with her fiance because "he'd show me up". "He's a lot better than me because that's his job. So not yet. I'd need more training if I was to do presenting," she added.

She said of her future: "I want to do some more TV, because the thought of going out onto a stage petrifies me. I'd like to do something with Ricky Gervais - I love his sense of humour and his writing. And I've always wanted to do a period drama."