'Coronation Street' bosses have decided to introduce the first lesbian character in the soap's history.

An insider at Granada's Manchester headquarters said in News Of The World: "Corrie' lags behind on issues of race and gender.

"Executives want to create a soap which is representative of society in 2008 and they are acutely aware they need more gay characters."

The show's producers had initially planned for Jenny Platt's character Violet Wilson to be gay when she joined the show in 2004. However, her character enjoyed great popularity for her relations with Jamie Baldwin and Jason Grimshaw.

The source added: "Violet was pin-pointed as the one character they could take down that route but they went cold on the idea and cast her as straight.

"It does seem ridiculous it has never been explored on 'Corrie' but that's all about to change."