Sue Cleaver is leaving Coronation Street after 25 years on the cobbles.

The actress, 61, who plays the iconic Eileen Grimshaw is leaving the ITV soap to pursue new acting projects and her exit storylines are already being filmed.

The star, who is also a regular panelist on Loose Women, won’t be killed off by producers, leaving the door open for a possible return in the future.

While Sue will still appear on viewers screens until late spring, the star said: ‘I’ve had 25 privileged years of working on Coronation Street.

‘The door is still firmly open but as I reached my 60th year, I decided it was time to embrace change, look for new adventures and live fearlessly.’

The star previously took a break from Corrie last year to star in Sister Act The Musical as Mother Superior and headed Down Under to compete in the 2022 series of I’m A Celebrity.

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Sue Cleaver has quit Coronation Street after 25 years to for ‘new adventures’ – however she won’t be killed off from the cobbles

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The actress, 61, who plays the iconic Eileen Grimshaw is leaving the ITV soap to pursue new acting projects and her exit storylines are already being filmed (pictured in 2012)

The soap’s new boss Kate Brooks shared the team’s sadness to see Sue go as she said: ‘We’re sad to bid farewell to the wonderful Sue Cleaver.

‘Over the past twenty five years, Eileen Grimshaw has been at the heart of some of the most memorable and iconic Corrie storylines, and her onscreen rivalry with Gail Platt will undoubtedly go down in Corrie folklore.

‘There’s certainly no one quite like Eileen, and her character will be hugely missed on the Cobbles. We wish Sue all the very best as she embarks on her next exciting chapter.’

Sue’s character Eileen has had a dramatic time on the soap and is perhaps best known for her iconic on-screen rivalry with Gail Platt as well as her marriage to serial killer Pat Phelan.

The star previously spoke about how she was learning to embrace ageing and admitted that since entering her 60s she feels that the world is now her ‘oyster.’ 

Speaking in Prima’s November issue she explained: ‘There are so many people my age who I speak to that are depressed about reaching 60. You feel like this is the end of the line, that everything goes down from here. And I absolutely don’t feel that way.

‘I just feel like the world really is my oyster now, and there’s so much available out there. There’s so much that you can do.’

Meanwhile Sue shocked fans after she showed off her three stone weight loss during an appearance on Lorraine in September.

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Sue’s character Eileen has had a dramatic time on the soap and is perhaps best known for her iconic on-screen rivalry with Gail Platt (pictured) as well as her marriage to serial killer Pat Phelan

Sue Cleaver says she’s ‘come out from hiding away’ after weight loss

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Sue previously shocked fans with her  incredible three stone weight loss (pictured L in May 2023 and R in 2006)

In March, Sue discussed her weight loss after participating in Dry January the year before.

She said: ‘I lost 18lb [in 2022’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here]. I’d already lost a stone and a half that year, because I gave up booze. I did Dry January and then I decided to carry on.

‘I know it sounds ridiculous at my age, but I never really thought about how many calories I was consuming when I was having a glass of red wine while cooking dinner and then a couple more while eating it.

‘If you’re doing that four or five nights a week, that’s a lot of calories.’

Fans have been left astonished by Sue’s stunning transformation and gasped they ‘hardly recognised her!’ during her appearance on ITV‘s Lorraine.

She was on the show to talk her about her new newly released autobiography A Work In Progress,  however fans were distracted by her appearance.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, viewers wrote: ‘Sue Cleaver looking amazing.. #lorraine’; ‘What the hell has happened to Sue Cleaver? You’d hardly recognise her!: ‘Wow so slim – good for you’.