Coronation Street star Dame Maureen Lipman has announced that she is engaged to partner David Turner.
The 78-year-old actress who plays the no-nonsense Evelyn Plummer on the long-running ITV soap, revealed that it was she who decided to pop the question while travelling on a train.
Dame Lipman has been married once before to Corrie writer Jack Rosenthal from 1974 until his death from cancer in 2004.
She later found love with retired computer expert Guido Castro, but declared that she was "against the M word" (marriage), as she mourned his death in January 2021.
Now, it seems she has had a change of heart and decided to make things official with Mr Turner.
The couple had been travelling home on the train from the launch of the Queen’s son Tom Parker-Bowles' latest cooking book when she decided to make her move.
The actress wrote in the Spectator: "Later that night my partner David and I decided to tell our children that, with a combined age of 156, we are going to get married.
"In truth I had been rather against the ‘M’ word, but on a train coming back from Edinburgh he mentioned that it was the minor festival of Tu B’Av – a day when a Jewish woman can ask a man to marry her.
"Unable to resist the gag, I slid under the table separating us on to one knee and asked him for his hand. To my surprise and slight panic, he gave it."
The bride-to-be broke then chose to reveal her news to her family on a very special date, September 8, which would have been the birthday of her late husband Jack Rosenthal.
Lipman and Turner made their first public appearance together at the Oldie of the Year awards last November.
In July it was announced the Lipman is set to take a break from Coronation Street towards the end of the year to take on a new role.
She is set to swap the cobbles for the stage to play Mrs Potty in pantomime Beauty and the Beast at the Richmond Theatre.
She will be joined by comedy magician Pete Firman as Silly Billy from Saturday December 7 to Sunday January 5, 2025.
A spokesperson for Coronation Street has confirmed that the break is only temporary and that she will be returning, saying: "Dame Maureen is taking a sabbatical from Coronation Street towards the end of the year. We look forward to seeing her back on the cobbles in 2025."
