SHERRIE Hewson will always be  known as Corrie’s Maureen Holdsworth – but  is making history in her latest role.

I can reveal the actress, 73,  is to be soap’s oldest serial killer.

Martha Blake will “tear through characters like a knife through butter” in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. She is the matriarch of the Blake family, which has already had one murderer.

A source revealed: “Hollyoaks is at its best when there’s a major villain on the loose and Martha is going to top them all. She’s  just as twisted as her murderous great-granddaughter Nico.

“She may be worse. No one’s safe with Martha around.”

Nico killed her grandfather Patrick in 2016.

Martha’s killing spree is due to begin after the big September relaunch of the soap. With 20 cast members being axed in the coming months, she will have plenty of potential victims.

The source said: “Obviously Sherrie is over the moon to play such an out-there character. She can’t wait to get her hands dirty with the blood of  characters.”

Sherrie’s most famous role as Corrie’s dizzy Maureen  ran from 1993 to 2006 in total. She arrived at Bettabuys and later married store boss Reg.

Meanwhile, Hollyoaks has had an old-age murderer before in  Silas Blissett (Jeff Rawle), who was 72 during his 2020 killings. Last year Corrie viewers saw  Stephen Reid (Todd Boyce) kill three characters when he was in his mid-sixties.

Hollyoaks executive producer Hannah Cheers  said of the Blakes: “With a family dynasty so rich in history, it should come as no surprise  there are still many secrets to be uncovered.”

And plenty of skeletons in the closet by the sounds of it.

Will’s an extra hit for Ricky

RICKY GERVAIS has revealed Will Smith would be  his dream  signing if he ever revives hit sitcom Extras.

The comedian, who played struggling “background actor” Andy Millman, previously recruited David Bowie, Orlando Blood, Ben Stiller, Les Dennis and Shaun Williamson for guest roles on the BBC One show, which aired between 2005 and 2007.

But he’d love Will to join the cast so he can poke fun at the star’s  2022 Oscars bust-up with Chris Rock. Predicting what Andy might say of the row over a joke Chris made about Will’s wife Jada, Ricky said: “Will, you’ve got to stop slapping people, mate.”

“They said my wife’s name.”

“‘Yes, but she was in the delicatessen and they called her name because she was next to get some ham.”

“Well, I had to slap him.”

I’d pay to see it!

Suranne in a busy spell

SURANNE JONES is back on screens with a  Channel 4 documentary about witches – and it sounds like she is casting her spell far and wide.

The Doctor Foster actress has revealed there are a host of other TV projects in the bag.

She told Radio Times: “When we started making this, I was also making I Am Victoria, which was about mental health.

“Then I said, ‘Let’s do a thriller’, which I’ve just finished filming for Netflix – in which I play the Prime Minister.

“We’ve just had another commission for a show about two female fraudsters.

“They’re all really strong and really different. I feel like I’m in control of my slate, what I spend my time doing.

“I can work around my family  and I can make sure  I’m not pigeon-holed.”

Miquita’s dead end

MIQUITA OLIVER has an odd career ambition – “dropping dead” on  TV.

But it is not as morbid as it sounds, as the former T4 host says she wants to work in telly  until the day she dies, whenever that may be.

She explains on her  Miss Me? podcast: “I would like to drop dead on a TV set. That’s how much I love my job. I would like, at the end of my career, to be a powerful force in broadcasting, in production and presenting.”

Vic Bafta buckled

VICKY McCLURE has revealed her  Bafta gong  is now bent out of shape.

The actress won the Best Actress award in 2011 for her role in This Is England ’86.

But Vicky said on the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast: “We were doing this film that was all a big p**s-take and they asked me to bring in the Bafta.

“They weigh a ton . . . I kind of dropped my bag on the floor, forgot the Bafta is in there, got it out and it was f***ing bent.”

SKY Arts’ new three-part documentary, Battle Of The Bagpipes, lifts the lid on the instrument’s  traditions, culture and  leading figures as they go head to head at Glasgow’s World Pipe Band Championships.

It features military and civilian pipe bands and  begins on July 3.