One of Coronation Street’s newest stars has said it’s ‘goodbye for now’ as their latest storyline took a sad twist.

As fans of the ITV soap know, Mick and Lou Michaelis arrived on the cobbles earlier this year, described as Weatherfield’s new ‘nightmare neighbours’.

they moved into Mawdsley Street, at the back of Gemma and Chesney Winter-Brown’s house, with their three children – Brody, Joanie and Shanice.

Lou and Mick, played by Farrel Hegarty and Joe Layton, quickly clung to Gemma and Chesney, before the couple discovered that Mick was the man in the van who has been harassing Chesney for months.

Mick’s behaviour then became increasingly of concern, before he caused devastation to sweep across the cobbles by brutally killing PC Craig Tinker while in the line of duty, in upsetting scenes aired in May. He also orchestrated a prison-break last month, only adding to his already lengthy sentence.

Since then, Lou’s own shocking act came to light as it was revealed she’d hit Gary Windass over the head with a metal pole after he refused to be sucked into her desperate plan to blackmail him for money

After fans discovered Gary had been fighting for his life in the hospital, it quickly transpired that Lou had been holding vigil at Gary’s bedside, pretending to be his wife. But she had an ulterior motive – as she was the one who put him in the hospital in the first place and once Gary woke, her secret unravelled and she was later arrested.

Viewers also know that Sally and Tim Metcalfe have since had Lou and Mick’s children in their care and during the latest trip to the cobbles on Friday night (August 22), they were hit with some devastating news.

As they prepared for a visit from the social worker, Tim shocked Sally by revealing that Brody had tried to do a runner with his little sisters, before it was then confirmed that Lou had been sentenced to four years behind bars.

After Brody angrily blurted out the news, Sally attempted to comfort the distraught girls, saying: “Me and Tim and your brother we’re all going to look after you and you can ring your mum any time you want.” But during their conversation, Tim answered the door to find the social worker with a psychologist in tow.

After spending some time talking, they told Tim and Sally they were happy or the family to stay together. As they said their goodbyes, a scream was heard from the garden and when Shanice appeared with a bloody gash on her leg, she told them that Joanie did it.

Tim and Sally did their best to play down Joanie’s behaviour, but the social worker and psychologist didn’t seem convinced. Later, the social worker returned to No.4, explaining that they were going to separate the girls as Joanie couldn’t be trusted around Shanice.

Following the scenes, Savanna Pennington, who plays Joanine, took to Instagram with a message in which she spoke about being grateful for being trusted with the story and thanked the Corrie team.

Alongside a string of stills from Friday’s episode, the young actress said: “Feeling so grateful to be a part of this Coronation Street storyline. It’s been such an amazing experience and I’ve truly enjoyed bringing Joanie’s journey to life.

A huge thank you to everyone at @coronationstreet for trusting me with this role and for the support along the way. I’m proud to be part of a story that shines a light on important issues — and I hope it’s helped people see that behind every action there’s always something deeper going on.”

She added: “Here’s to learning, growing and the next chapter in Joanie’s Journey #coronationstreet #grateful #ActingJourney.” And the messages of support came flooding in.

@xjeankellyx said: “Well done Savanna you are doing a fantastic job at playing Joanie.” @rdevane08 commented: “Well done , you are doing a superb job playing joanie.” @xo.its_me_nicole wrote: “You smashed it you’re such an incredibly talented young actress.”

@peterrees51 replied: “I hope you come back to coronation street.” @shelley.babe50 posted: “Well done Savanna.” lambart89 added: “Well done, Savanna. You are a great actress.”

Meanwhile, the soap star also took to Instagram with a video alongside young Shanice actress, Molly Kilduff. It showed Molly saying: “I’ll see you tomorrow,” before Savanna replied: “I’m not here tomorrow,” leaving the girls sad. “Goodbye for now…. But sisters forever,” Savanna captioned the post.