Coronation Street star Faye Brookes has announced she is leaving the soap after four years.
She tweeted: "Thanks to everyone for your amazing support, but after 4 fabulous years in Weatherfield it's time for me to explore new opportunities, I've loved playing Kate Connor, but she needs a break for a little while and so with a song in my heart I'm off to pastures new. #corrie."
The actress has appeared in the soap since 2015 as Kate Connor, who is best known for her relationship with Rana Habeeb, played by Bhavna Limbachia.
In a statement, Coronation Street said: "Faye is a very talented actress who has put her all into the portrayal of Kate Connor for the past three and a half years, we wish her every success for the future.
"She will be on screen until early autumn and the door will be left open."
Faye Brooks couldn't get angry with Gareth Gates over Corrie spoiler storm
Faye - who is engaged to singer Gareth Gates - was last month embroiled in a stressful storyline that she admitted had taken its toll, as Kate's wife-to-be Rana Habeeb died in her arms after the factory roof collapsed.
"Rana's death was the hardest thing I've ever had to film and emotionally I ran myself into the ground with it," she said at the time.
Faye is the latest star to quit the soap amid what insiders are calling a 'crisis' akin to the sinking of the Titanic.
Limbachia, who played the programme's first ever gay Muslim character, announced in January that she would be leaving the show.
Tristan Gemmill (who plays Robert Preston) and Kym Marsh (Michelle Connor) also recently announced they were leaving to explore other options.
And Connie Hyde, who played Gina Seddon for two years, revealed she'd quit back in March.
Behind the scenes, castmates are said to be stressed and close to burning out thanks to an intense schedule of filming six shows a week.
Coronation Street 'in crisis' as 'stressed' cast and crew 'struggle to make six shows a week'
It's been two years since the announcement that the long-running programme would be bumped up from five episodes to six, which was initially met with criticism that the show wouldn't be able to keep up with the quality.
"It's chaos backstage as the filming schedules to keep up with six episodes a week have been putting everyone under huge pressure. Lots of people are stressed and very unhappy," an insider told the Sun earlier this month.
"The crew are even referring to Corrie as the Titanic as they fear they are all going down with the ship."
Coronation Street set for double schedule change amid fears for Carla Connor
Corrie legend Roy Barraclough, who played Alec Gilroy, blasted the move at the time telling the Mirror Online it would be "pure overkill".
"I don't wish them ill but I fear it will all end in tears – the quality is bound to suffer," he warned.
"The actors will not be able to cope, so they will inevitably have to get in more actors to play more characters. With such a huge cast it is very difficult to pull that off.
"Of course it can be done, but just how well is another matter. It is a mistake, it's pure overkill," he said before he sadly died in June 2017.
Characters like Toyah Battersby, played by Georgia Taylor, Brian Packham (Peter Gunn) and Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) were all brought back to create storylines needed to fill the extra weekly episode.
Gareth Gates and Faye Brookes look madly in love after rekindling their romance
As for Faye, she'll now have her and Gareth's massive wedding to plan.
Following their split in 2018, Faye says the couple are stronger than ever.
"We've been through so much as a couple and we've come out of it stronger than ever," she told OK! magazine.
"We're a team and our wedding day is about the next chapter of our lives together. We're definitely going to get married abroad somewhere hot. We love the idea of it being very intimate, so we're only going to invite 30 people."
She added: "The wedding is going to be the biggest day of our lives so I'm going to go big with my dress and every other detail of the day. I'll only get married once and I want it to be huge."
