SHE is a firm fixture on Coronation Street but in this throwback photo from an old episode of Doctor Who she is literally worlds away from Weatherfield.

Helen Worth, better known to audiences as soap matriarch Gail Platt, has come along away since her role as Mary Ashe in the 1974 serial, Colony in Space.

She portrayed a young colonist living with her family on the desert planet of Uxarieus in the year 2472, whose world is under threat from an unscrupulous mining corporation IMC.

Helen – aged just 20 at the time – starred alongside Jon Pertwee’s third Time Lord and assistant Jo Grant, played Katy Manning, and managed to help save her people.

However, since her stint in the sci-fi favourite, Helen has made a name for herself in soap land after taking on the part of Gail in 1974.

Helen Worth, better known to audiences as soap matriarch Gail Platt, has come along away since her role as Mary Ashe in the 1974 serial, Colony in Space.

She portrayed a young colonist living with her family on the desert planet of Uxarieus in the year 2472, whose world is under threat from an unscrupulous mining corporation IMC.

Helen – aged just 20 at the time – starred alongside Jon Pertwee’s third Time Lord and assistant Jo Grant, played Katy Manning, and managed to help save her people.

However, since her stint in the sci-fi favourite, Helen has made a name for herself in soap land after taking on the part of Gail in 1974.

Helen Worth played Mary Ashe in Colony in Space

She also has three children: Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) and Sarah-Louise (Tina O’Brien), who also have their own troubles.

Most recently, David helped to bury the body of drug dealer Callum Logan (Sean Ward) underneath Gail’s granny annexe before an inexplicable car crash led to the discovery of the corpse.

Meanwhile, Nick ended his marriage to Carla Connor (Alison King) and the pair went their separate ways just days after tying the knot.

The star has received a number of accolades for her performance as Gail, including the gong for Outstanding Achievement at The British Soap Awards in 2014.

Along with her Coronation Street commitments, Helen also has credits in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Oliver! and she also played one of the von Trapp family’s children in a production of The Sound of Music at the Palace Theatre in London at the tender age of 12.

She is a philanthropist and is the patron of the Born Free Foundation, which aims to protect endangered wildlife across the world.

Helen supports ActionAid as well, which provides children with eduction in developing countries.

The colonists had an encounter with the Master