A FORMER Coronation Street star has announced she is engaged.

Nicola Thorp, who played Nicola Rubinstein on the ITV soap from 2017 to 2019, took to Instagram to reveal fellow actor Nikesh Patel had popped the question.

Nicola, 34, began a whirlwind romance with Nikesh in 2021 and posted a snap with her husband-to-be to reveal the happy engagement news on social media.

The pair were quickly flooded with well wishes from friends, fans and family.

Among the celebrity well wishers were former Emmerdale star Simon Lennon, Game of Thrones actress Nathalie Emmanuel, This Morning host Dermot O’Leary and Queer Eye’s Tan France.

Nicola’s Nicola Rubinstein character was the long-lost daughter of serial killer Pat Phelan.

She was conceived when Phelan raped her mother, but got to know Pat in 2017, believing that he had had an affair with her mother.

When she discovered the truth, she disowned him and helped Seb, Anna and Gary Windass expose his other crimes.

The character later moved to Bristol, leaving the street in 2019.