Coronation Street star Dame Maureen Lipman is to take a step back from her Evelyn Plummer role to take a ‘gap year’.
The actress, 78, has been a regular cast member in the ITV soap but will only appear on a recurring basis moving forward.
She recently discussed her engagement to partner David Turner – who she proposed to on a train – on Lorraine Kelly’s self-titled daytime show.
‘We are astounded by the fact you can have a love affair at this age’ she said.
‘We sort of talked about marriage but in a kind of way. We were coming back on a train from Edinburgh and he is very learned about the Jewish faith and he said “it’s Tu B’Av”, it’s a day where a woman can ask a man to marry them.
‘It was just for gag really. I slipped under the table and he asked what doing and I said “Will you marry me?”‘
Her exit story – which has already began – sees her leave for a university law course, prompted by best pal Roy Cropper (David Neilson).
‘Roy sees potential in Evelyn, he sees that she’s more than just a pretty face’ Maureen revealed.
‘But he’s sort of the architect of what happens to me over the next few months.
‘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?’
We reckon she’d look right at home with Adam and Dee-Dee in the law office!
She continued to The Sun: ‘I’ll be absent for a while, and then coming back.
‘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.
‘David and I are thinking of having a bit of a gap year.’
She also admitted that she’s waiting to see ‘what’s out there’ in regards to other roles: ‘There’s got to be something that Lesley Manville, Brenda Blethyn and Harriet Walters don’t play that I could do.’
Lipman’s first husband, the late Jack Rosenthal, wrote 130 scripts for Coronation Street during the show’s first decade.
He also helped to launch the 1965 comedy spin-off Pardon the Expression, which continued actor Arthur Lowe’s stint in the role of Leonard Swindley.
Metro understands that whilst Evelyn may no longer be living in Weatherfield, she’ll still visit when storylines allow.
