Did you spot the iconic soap stars in Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka?

Timothée Chalamet stars as Wonka (Picture: Warner Bros)

With a star-studded cast, new film Wonka is proving hugely popular, but did you know it features multiple famous faces from soapland?

The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel tells the story of how the chocolatier became the kooky character we find in the beloved Roald Dahl book. The cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Colman, Keegan Michael-Key and some stars from EastEnders, Coronation Street and Casualty.

Former Coronation Street actor Ian Bartholomew plays a character listed as ‘Sceptical Old Man’ in the film. He is best known for his role as Geoff Metcalfe in the ITV soap, who abused Yasmeen Nazir (Shelley King) for months, and died during Corrie’s 60th anniversary episodes.

The appearance was picked up by many fans, with some taking to Twitter/X to express their surprise.

One laughed: ‘Geoff from Corrie being in Wonka was a highlight!’, while another shocked audience member said: ‘Did not expect to see Geoff from Corrie and Timothee Chalamet dancing together in wonka.’

Actress Rakhee Thakrar, who plays Lottie Bell in Wonka, portrayed the role of Shabnam Masood in EastEnders from 2014-2016.

Following her role in the soap, Rakhee has also featured in BBC One’s Rules of the Game and the Netflix show Sex Education.

Shabnam has been mentioned a lot recently in EastEnders following the return of Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo). Dean and Shabnam have a daughter together called Jade, who has been in hospital waiting for a transplant.

Dean is often seen expressing his frustration and anger towards Shabnam who lives away from Walford and knows he was responsible for raping Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).

Ian’s best known for playing evil Geoff in Corrie (Picture: ITV)

Elsewhere, you may know Jim Carter as Mr Carson from Downton Abbey, but did you know he has also appeared in Casualty and ITV’s The Bill?

Jim played Matthew Charlton in one episode of Casualty back in 1991 and in 1985, he was seen in The Bill as Stan.

Shabnam was last seen in 2016 (Picture: BBC)

Paterson features in a new BBC One drama (Picture: BBC)

You probably recognise Paterson Joseph from the recent BBC One drama called Boat Story, which follows Samuel (Paterson Joseph) and Janet (Daisy Haggard) as they become targets of a mob boss after discovering a haul of cocaine on a washed-up boat.

While Paterson has also featured in shows such as Inside No.9 and Vigil, fans of Casualty will also know he played Mark Grace in the late 90s.

Elsewhere, director of the film Paul King revealed recently that the movie’s cast actually got dunked in ‘enormous’ vats of lukewarm chocolate during filming.

‘We had this incredible chocolatier,’ raved the filmmaker.

‘She made these incredible concoctions, and we would taste them. They tasted much better than they needed to, because obviously actors are good at pretending things, but the miracle was they tasted every bit as good as they looked,’ he added to People.

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Touching upon a specific scene in which Wonka’s friend Noodle (played by Calah Lan) gets dunked in chocolate, King revealed: ‘We actually made an enormous vat of hot chocolate – not scalding, just warm hot chocolate for them to immerse themselves in.

‘So there was a lot of chocolate around!’

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So many familiar faces!