When Maureen Lipman announced she’d be leaving Coronation Street, she promised that it wouldn’t be a completely final exit.
‘I’m not going to die, but then I’ll be in and out of it because I want to have a bit of a life,’ she said. The legendary actress, who has played
the part of Evelyn Plummer since 2018, recently became engaged to her partner David Turner, after proposing to him on a train journey.
‘David and I are thinking of having a bit of a gap year,’ she said.
Evelyn’s exit story was set in motion by her dear friend Roy Cropper (David Neilson), when he suggested that she could consider doing a law degree.
The fierce grandmother recently showed she would be quite a formidable lawyer when she threatened to sue Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) over ruining her backgammon set.
She was also heavily involved in the campaign to free Roy from prison when he was falsely accused of the murder of Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton).
Evelyn took Roy’s advice and applied for the course, with Maureen joking, ‘The best thing that could happen is a series about Evelyn going to university. Can you imagine if all the students start dressing like Evelyn?’
In upcoming episodes Evelyn is about to take up her place at university. Meanwhile she has her grandmotherly duties to attend to when Tyrone (Alan Halsall) asks her to look after the girls.
It seems that something’s got to give – and she decides to move into student halls when she starts her degree.
There’s a touching scene when Roy, a man who finds it difficult to talk about his feelings, admits he’s going to miss his dear friend while she’s away.
Evelyn has a farewell drink at the Rovers with Roy, Brian (Peter Gunn) and Yasmeen (Shelley King) and they’re soon joined by Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) and Tyrone.
Tyrone tells his gran that the car is packed up with her belongings and she gets ready to leave the place she’s called home over the past years.
It’s a sad departure, but the good news is that Evelyn will be back when storylines and Maureen’s ‘gap year’ and other potential acting projects allow.
