CORONATION Street’s Lou Michaelis has quit the cobbles – insisting on severing all contact with her children.

The hairdresser – who is played by actress Farrel Hegarty in the ITV soap – has plead guilty to attacking Gary Windass and now faces a spell in prison.

But this week she decided that she needed to cease contact with her kids until she was free again.

Summoning foster carer Sally Metcalfe to prison, Lou told her: “I don’t want you bringing the kids to see me anymore.

“Not regularly. I just don’t want them to get used to seeing me here. And this place getting mixed up in their memory of me.”

Sally tried to tell Lou that things would get better but Lou wouldn’t hear it.

She added: “I just think it’s best to say goodbye for now. For all our sakes.”

Lou then called her son and daughters over to spend their final minutes together until she said goodbye for a few years at least.

“I’ll look after them, I promise,” Brody said as the family hugged goodbye.

Actress Farrel Hegarty only joined the soap six months ago alongside Joe Layton as Lou’s husband Mick.

The nightmare neighbours were immediately controversial with a swift viewer backlash, but now fans have spoken out about missing Lou.

One wrote: “I can’t believe #Corrie is losing the brilliant Lou but the abysmal Theo is sticking around 😢😢😢😢”

A second said: “If #Corrie have any sense whatsoever left they’ll bring Lou back in a year or so, she screams classic Corrie icon in the making & I cannot praise Farrel Hegarty high enough, she is completely brilliant!”

Another added: “LOU DESERVED BETTER 😭She reminded me of a Shona and Kylie Platt. Bad past but had a heart of gold deep down and only ever wanted to do the right thing by her children. Made her mistakes no doubt but everything out pure fear.”