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'Cold Feet' 2016: The Real Reason Helen Baxendale Didn't Return As Rachel Bradley For New Series

'Cold Feet' is returning after a 13-year absence from our screens.
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Entertainment Editor, HuffPost UK

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‘Cold Feet’ makes its long-awaited return to our screens this evening after a 13-year absence, and it turns out Helen Baxendale was originally planning to return with her co-stars.

This would have been a tall order, as her character Rachel was killed off in a dramatic car crash scene in the penultimate episode of the fifth series, leaving her friends reeling and her distraught partner Adam (James Nesbitt) to bring up their son alone.

Writer Mike Bullen has revealed it was his original dream to reunite the six leads from the show, one of the biggest British TV dramas of the late 1990s/early 2000s. However, he tells the Guardian that Helen Baxendale soon poured cold water on his plans to bring her back as a ghost. 

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Adam and Rachel were at the centre of the original 'Cold Feet' - this time around, James Nesbitt will be going alone, after Helen Baxendale rejected the script idea
ITV

He reports her saying “Thanks but no thanks – it’s a crap part,” is how Mike remembers it, before agreeing, “She definitely made the right decision. It was just me being sentimental.”

Instead, the story picks up 13 years after we last saw Adam tearfully saying goodbye to Rachel, while their friends looked on in anguish. It’s all change in the new series, as he returns to his native Manchester to announce his impending marriage. 

The end of the last series saw big changes for Adam’s closest pals, too. Pete and Jenny (John Thomson and Faye Ripley) had got back together after a brief hiatus during which she became pregnant with someone else’s child. Karen and David (Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst) had also seemingly gone their separate ways after mutual bouts of betrayal over the five series of the show. 

Notable newcomer is Radio 1 DJ Cel Spellman, who plays Adam and Rachel’s son Matthew. His relationship with his father promises to be at the centre of the new series, which is comprised of eight episodes. 

Tap the first picture below to open our slideshow:

'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(01 of14)
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James Nesbitt played Adam Williams... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(02 of14)
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Since appearing in ‘Cold Feet’, James has gone on to become one of the country’s most popular actors. He's played the lead role in five series of BBC crime drama ‘Murphy’s Law’, starred as the titular character in a new adaptation of ‘Jekyll’ and also featured in ‘The Passion’, a story of the last week in the life of Jesus. He was most recently seen in 2014’s BAFTA nominated series ‘The Missing’, where James played the father of a missing child. (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(03 of14)
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Helen Baxendale played Rachel Bradley... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(04 of14)
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At around the same time Helen appeared on ‘Cold Feet’, she landed a guest role as Ross Geller’s girlfriend, Emily, on ‘Friends’ and subsequently had some exposure on US TV. But she returned home to Britain star in more episodes of the ITV drama, before Rachel was killed off in the final season's dramatic car crash. After her exit, Helen said she was taking time out of acting to bring up her young children. After she returned to work three years later, Helen enjoyed guest parts in series such as Agatha Christie’s ‘Marple’ and ‘Poirot’, ‘Lewis’ and ‘Inspector George Gently’. But her most high-profile role was in BBC Three sitcom ‘Cuckoo’, which was recently renewed for a third series. (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(05 of14)
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Fay Ripley played Jenny Gifford... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(06 of14)
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Fay first left ‘Cold Feet’ in series four, but returned for the funeral of Rachel Bradley in the final series. Since then, the actress has lent her voice to a BBC adaptation of children’s book ‘Fungus The Bogeyman’, starred in sitcom ‘Reggie Perrin’ and had guest roles in ‘New Tricks’, ‘Monday Monday’ and ‘Hustle’. In 2014, she starred in Channel 5’s police procedural drama ‘Suspects’, as well as ITV sitcom ‘The Delivery Man’. (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(07 of14)
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John Thomson played Pete Gifford... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(08 of14)
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John has enjoyed plenty of success since the end of ‘Cold Feet’, most notably starring in ‘Coronation Street’ as Eileen Grimshaw’s love interest Jesse, and ‘Waterloo Road’ as a parent of one of the students. As well as roles in BBC drama ‘New Street Law’ and the third series of ITV’s ‘Kingdom’ alongside former co-stars Robert Bathurst and Hermione Norris, John has also dabbled in reality TV. He’s appeared on ‘Comic Relief Does Fame Academy’, celebrity survival series ‘71 Degrees North’ and the 2013 series of ‘Celebrity Masterchef’. John was most recently seen playing various characters on ‘The Keith Lemon Sketch Show’. (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(09 of14)
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Hermione Norris played Karen Marsden... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(10 of14)
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Hermione has arguably had the biggest amount of success since the end of ‘Cold Feet’, appearing alongside Robson Green in crime series ‘Wire In The Blood’, as Ros Myers in BBC spy drama ‘Spooks’ and in ITV drama ‘Kingdom’ as Beatrice Kingdom. She’s also starred in BBC series ‘The Crimson Field’, ‘In The Club’ and ‘Outcasts’, as well as bagging a role in ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Kill The Moon’ last year. Hermione recently appeared alongside Robert Bathurst in Sky One's ‘Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death’. (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(11 of14)
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Robert Bathurst played David Marsden... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(12 of14)
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Robert has had a number of high-profiles in ‘The Pillars of the Earth’, ‘Wild at Heart’, ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Poirot’, as well as starring in children’s sitcom ‘My Dad's The Prime Minister’. He’s also returned to the stage, starring in a number of West End productions. Most recently, he appeared in sitcom ‘Blandings’ alongside Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Tim Vine and Mark Williams and in 2014, he had a minor role in ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie’. (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(13 of14)
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Kimberley Joseph played Jo Ellison... (credit:Rex)
'Cold Feet': Where Are They Now?(14 of14)
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Just two days after filming the final episode of ‘Cold Feet’, Kimberley returned to Australia, where she joined medical soap ‘All Saints’. In 2004, she then began appearing in ‘Lost’ as Cindy Chandler, and featured in 13 episodes before the show ended in 2010. Since then, Kimberley’s appeared in Linkin Park’s video for ‘Castle Of Glass’, and is bringing up her young son Gabriel, who was born in 2013. (credit:Rex)
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