Sir Ian McKellen's 'forgotten' Coronation Street role that opened cameo floodgates

Two decades ago, , Oscar nominee and two-time winner, completed a stint on . The X-Men star, who appeared on the soap for three weeks, portrayed a conman moonlighting as a beloved author.

On May 1, 2005, Ian rocked up in Weatherfield as Blanche Hunt's (played by Patricia Cutts) favourite author, Mel Hutchwright. The celebrity writer, who later revealed he was suffering from writer's block, looked to Janice Battersby (Vicky Entwistle) and Cilla Battersby-Brown (Wendi Peters) for inspiration in his second and third episodes.

In another outing, Mel claimed he wanted to base his next character on a person from the cobbles. However, his lies are seen through by (William Roache), whom Ian's character begins to annoy.

Later, Ken protests when Blanche's book club members promise to fund Mel's book. Excited by the possibility of swindling some money out of the Corrie regulars, Mel asks all cheques to be made out to Lionel Hipkiss, his real alias.

In his final Coronation Street appearance on May 22, 2005, Ian's character's plans are foiled by Ken, causing him to flee Weatherfield for good. According to , 85-year-old Ian's stint on the mainstay changed the face of soapland.

"Once Ian McKellen went into **Coronation Street there was no stopping everybody," she said, as reported by . "Corrie was the one that caught them."

Since Ian's three-week stint on Coronation Street, other celebrities such as Lorraine Kelly, June Whitfield and have gone on to make cameo appearances.

Other famous faces such as ' Andrew Sachs, Tim Healy and Rula Lenska have also followed in the Gandalf favourite's footsteps.

Anthony Cotton, who has portrayed Sean Tully on Coronation Street since 2003, once revealed that Ian was interested in revisiting his role as fraudster Lionel.

"Ian did say to me, and I'm going to put this out there, 'I think it's about time that Mel Hutchwright maybe made a reappearance," he said in 2014, as per .

When asked about whether he believes Coronation Street should rely on cameos from Hollywood negatives, Anthony, 49, replied in the negative.

"I think Corrie doesn't need cameos, but when one comes along like Ian playing Mel Hutchwright, then it's glorious because it's meant to be and it's not shoehorned in," he added.

A decade after his appearance on the ITV mainstay, Ian was honoured with a Coronation Street cobble to mark his birthday.

"Oh my goodness me, it's mounted as well," he said when he saw the cobble. "I know exactly where that will go under my portrait of Violet Carson... thank you very, very, very much indeed."