Coronation Street star Channique Sterling-Brown has revealed that she has quit the soap to take the next step in her career.
As Dee-Dee, Sterling-Brown has been at the centre of some major storylines since she joined in 2022, such as her relationship with the evil Joel Deering, highlighting racial injustice in maternity care and representing Roy Cropper in court. Sterling-Brown was awarded the Best Newcomer at the 2023 British Soap Awards for her work on the series.
The actor admitted that she was initially torn when she was deciding to renew her contract with Coronation Street, but chose to leave after feeling like she had “done what I came here to do”.
“I made the decision in spring, and it wasn't a rash decision,” she told Digital Spy and other media. “I felt really torn, but I really just had the sense that it just felt like the time.”
She added: “I feel like I've been so privileged, and I've got to tell some great stories, and it's been so wonderful. And obviously I'm very led by my faith as well. So I just really took my time over it and prayed into it.”
“I found a real sense that I had done what I'd come to do, if that makes sense, not that I ever knew exactly what it was, but it just felt like I had achieved what I was sent here to do, so it was time to be brave.”
Sterling-Brown’s final scenes are set to air in the coming weeks, which the actor said were “emotional” to film.
She said that going forward, she wanted to explore roles on stage and the big screen. “I'd love to do a film, I'd love to do a drama, I'd love to do some more comedy," she said.
The actor said that playing Dee-Dee was an honour, but it’s time to “find some new characters to fall in love with”.
This year has seen a series of exits from the ITV series, including Sally Ann Matthews, known for playing the fiery Rovers Return landlady Jenny Connor, who said she had left the programme to take the next step in her career
Announcing her departure in August, she said it was “time” to play different roles – ones that she “always hoped I would when I’d grown up”.
Matthews made her debut on the soap in 1986 as Alan Bradley's tearaway daughter, before leaving in 1991. She made a shock return in 2016, which was only meant to last for a matter of months, but ended up staying as a central character in the show for another decade.
Other actors who have left the soap include Yasmeen Metcalfe, Adam Hussein, Charlotte Jordan and Colson Smith.
Sue Cleaver, who played the popular matriarch Eileen Grimshaw, also left the show in June.
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