Coronation Street actress Beverley Callard has left the famous cobbles, but without the dramatic exit she was expecting.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic Bev was unable to film her final scenes as Weatherfield icon Liz McDonald, and the actress is unavailable to return now that filming has restarted after lockdown.
The soap has confirmed that Bev, who has played former Rovers Return boss Liz since 1989, is now out of contract from the show.
Liz's departure to Spain has been referenced by her son Steve, played by Simon Gregson, who said he could really do with her support now that his son Oliver has been diagnosed with a serious incurable illness.
The news that the Weatherfield legend was leaving after 30 years sent shockwaves across soapland last year.
Bev told viewers not to worry and hinted she could be back on the ITV programme after she finishes her stage tour with The Thunder Girls, the story of a reunited dysfunctional girlband.
Bev, 63, told the Manchester Evening News about the moment she ‘knocked her boss off his chair’ with the news of her plans.
Producer Iain MacLeod told her to take a step back and think of it as a ‘sabbatical’ from the cobbles while she treads the boards.
“I agonised about my decision to leave Corrie,” said Bev.
“I love it - it will always have a massive place in my heart, but I just had to do this. It is an opportunity I just couldn’t turn down.
“I went to see Iain MacLeod, we sat there and had a cup of tea together and he’s telling me all about the exciting plans he has for Liz in the 60th anniversary of Corrie, which is next year.
“I had to stop him mid sentence and deliver the news I’d actually come to hand my notice in.
"He said, ‘talk about knocking someone off their chair. You just did it.’”
She added: “I assumed that they’d end up killing me off, but Iain said to think of it as being a sabbatical and said they want to keep the door open for me, so you never know, Liz could be back in the future.”
Bev’s legendary character has been involved in a number of shock storylines over the years including her tempestuous relationship with on-screen husband Jim played by Charlie Lawson.
Bev had hoped to 'go out with a bang' with a reunion between herself and prodigal son Andy McDonald, the twin of Steve.
She said: “I will miss Liz. They won’t kill her but I’m told she will go out with a bang, but I don’t know how yet. I reckon I’ll probably find out about two months before viewers do."
She added: "I’d love for Charlie Lawson to come back, and Nick Cochrane, who plays Andy, that would be amazing. But it’s not up to me of course.”
In The Thunder Girls Bev plays the feisty but vulnerable Roxanne in Melanie Blake’s stage production of her novel The Thunder Girls, which sees an 80s girl band get back together for a ‘reunion dinner from hell’.
Bev said: “I first read Thunder Girls a few years ago. I said to Melanie, when you take this on stage, I want to be a part of it.
"When we sold out nine months before it was on stage at the Lowry, we were blown away by the reception.”
The tour was due to kick off at Stockport Plaza in September before going stateside but due to the Coronavirus outbreak the tour has been rescheduled to 2021.
