Coronation Street actress Lucy Fallon made a short trip from the cobbles to her home town to switch on the Blackpool Illuminations.
Fallon, 23, who plays Bethany Platt in the ITV soap, pulled the switch in front of almost 20,000 people along the seafront on the Tower Festival Headland.
Dozens of her family and friends – including her boyfriend, parents and sisters – were in the audience to watch her take centre stage, said organisers.
Performing on the night were Busted, Diversity, Becky Hill, Nina Nesbitt, Sigma and R3Wire & Varski, while Britain’s Got Talent contestants Flakefeet Children’s Choir, from Fleetwood, and children’s TV character Sooty made guest appearances.
Cllr Gillian Campbell, deputy leader of Blackpool Council, said: “The Illuminations Switch-On night has become one of the great events in the tourism calendar, steeped in decades of history and tradition.
“It always make it so much more special when the switch-on star has an emotional bond with Blackpool and we are delighted that Lucy was able to turn on the Illuminations in front of a huge audience including so many of her family and friends.”
The Blackpool Illuminations will run nightly until November 3.