Helen Flanagan ‘hated’ being nominated for Sexiest Female at British Soap Awards
Former Coronation Street actress Helen Flanagan has spoken out about the British Soap Awards Sexiest Female category after it was axed alongside the Sexiest Male award
Helen (Image: ITV)
Helen Flanagan has opened up about being regularly nominated as Sexiest Female at the British Soap Awards.
The 34-year-old actress shot to fame as Rosie Webster in Coronation Street in 2000 and is often in the spotlight for her looks rather than her acting,
During her time in Weatherfield, she took centre stage in several gripping storylines but instead she’d find herself being judged on her appearance.
Helen often found herself nominated in the Sexiest Female category in the glitzy awards bash but in 2015 bosses decided to axe the award alongside Sexiest Male.
The decision was made in favour of a storyline-based category that acknowledged issues of wider significance and Helen says that this was the right thing to do.
At the WhichBingo Awards, Helen shared her thoughts: “It’s about acting really isn’t it and not about your appearance.”
She added, “It’s probably a really dated thing really which needed to go and also it’s not a beauty pageant.”
Emphasising the importance of talent over looks, she said, “You are on the show for your acting talent and women are all beautiful in our own way.”
Reflecting on her past experiences, Helen confessed, “I always used to go nominated for it and to be honest with you and I always used to hate it.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.
She also touched upon the impact of growing up in the public eye, saying, “I do feel maybe growing up in the public eye made me more aware of my appearance in maybe not the best way and people can be quite mean.”
The categories of Sexiest Male and Sexiest Female were viewer-voted awards at the ceremony, which also included Best Actor, Best Actress, Villain of the Year, and Best British Soap.
The 2025 British Soap Awards are back in action tonight (Saturday, May 31), with some of the biggest names in continuing drama set to grace the glitzy event where four iconic soaps battle it out.
After a break last year, the ceremony is once again taking place this year, with Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks all competing for accolades after another year filled with dramatic storytelling.
The nominations have been evenly distributed among the four long-standing shows, with Emmerdale and EastEnders slightly leading the pack with 13 nods each, compared to 11 for Corrie and Hollyoaks.