Coronation Street star Lisa George has told how fears over her health have played a part in her decision

to leave the show after 13 years. The actress is best known for playing Beth Tinker in the ITV soap.

Lisa joined as back in 2011 when Steve McDonald delved into his little black book and gave Beth a call

when he was after a date to make his wife Becky jealous. Then, the following year, Steve again used her when he moved Beth and her son Craig into No.13 to wind up his new wife Tracy Barlow.

However, it wasn’t actually Lisa’s first time on the cobbles. Lisa’s first appearance in Corrie actually came back in 1997, when she appeared as a young nurse working alongside Martin Platt.

READ MORE: Coronation Street fans say ‘what’s the betting’ as they think exit has already happened

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She later appeared as a Family Liaison Officer working on the investigation into Tommy Harris’s murder – appearing for five episodes between March and April 2005 before eventually landing the role of Beth.

But just after Christmas, reports emerged that Lisa was set to leave the long-running show. The rumours have continued and it wasn’t until she appeared on This Morning on Wednesday (August 28) that the soap star confirmed she has left Corrie with her final scenes set to air on Friday (August 30).

Speaking about her upcoming exit as Beth for the first time, Lisa said on This Morning: “It’s strange. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I don’t think it will until I’m not on screen anymore and the fact that Friday will be last scenes, I think then it will start to sink in…”

Now, Lisa has opened up about how her fears of going blind encouraged her to take the leap and explore other roles. Lisa was diagnosed last year with NAION – non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, a rare condition where a loss of blood flow and oxygen delivery to the optic nerve causes sudden and painless vision loss in one eye.

It has left her partially blind in one eye and with just peripheral vision in the other. She previously told how she first developed the condition after being hit in the eye with a rope whilst helping chop down a tree before it then struck her other eye out of the blue while driving on a motorway.

Speaking to ITV’s Granada Reports, Lisa told how the diagnosis informed her decision to quit Corrie, saying: “What happens if I do go blind, I still want to explore as an actress and do lots of other things. It was the impetus for me to see what else is out there as I don’t want to stop any of those opportunities coming to me.”

She later shared: “Thirteen years is a long time, the thing I’m going to miss the most is the people and my friends. Everyone says it’s like a family, but it is. You have such a laugh with the crew and everyone supports you.”

She added: “We’re all on WhatsApp groups and if some one’s done something good on of the shows everyone’s texting saying well done I really that loved that. I don’t know any other job where people have done that.”