The soap has seen many faces come and go over the years

They are Adam Rickitt (Nick Tilsley), Susie Blake (Bev Unwin), Iain Rogerson (Harry Flagg) and Katherine Hunt and Thomas Craig (Angela and Tommy Harris).

The decision to ask the five to leave was made by new producer Tony Wood.

Former stars Beverley Callard (Liz McDonald) and Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby) are to return to the show.

Lifelike

Comedian Bradley Walsh also joins the cast - he will play factory owner Mike Baldwin's nephew.

The three actors will all have joined the show by the summer.

A spokeswoman for the soap said the departure of the five current actors was not sudden.

Beverley Callard came back for the soap's Blackpool special last year

"All the actors in question have made a valuable contribution. The nature of the show is that characters come and go," she said.

"There have always been characters who come onto the street for a limited period of time and passed through Weatherfield, as happens in real communities," she added.

Comic Peter Kay recently starred in a cameo role for two episodes as a dithering drayman who took Shelley (Sally Lindsay) out on a date.

Coronation Street was the UK's most-watched TV programme of 2003, thanks to its serial killer storyline.

Some 19.4 million viewers saw mass murderer Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) drown after killing several characters in the long-running soap.