Tony Slattery is to join the cast of Coronation Street.

The 45-year-old comic will play love-sick bookie Eric in the soap from early December.

A spokeswoman for producers Granada said Slattery had been given a short-term contract

She added: ‘We are delighted that he is joining the cast. He will be an excellent edition to the Street.

‘He will be appearing in a good few episodes and it is not a cameo role. We are going to see how the character develops."

Former Cambridge Footlights member Slattery found fame on improvisation show Whose Line is It Anyway, but disappeared from TV in the Nineties when he suffered problems wth drugs, alcohol and depression, from which he has now recovered.

He joins a growing list of comic to appear in the soap, following ex-Red Dwarf star Craig Charles, who plays taxi boss Lloyd Mullaney, and Bradley Walsh, who plays Danny Baldwin. Peter Kay and Norman Wisdom have had cameo roles.

Slattery starts filming his scenes next week. His character takes over the bookies which used to be run by bigamist Peter Barlow. He employs recovering alcoholic Carol Baldwin and the pair start dating.