Coronation Street favourite Mauren Lipman says she is 'exhausted' as she prepares to call time on the Cobbles.
The veteran actress - battle axe Evelyn Plummer on the ITV soap - has a new job after five years as the cantankerous corner shop worker.
The 76-year-old Dame made her first appearance on the soap in September 2018 as the grandmother of Tyrone Dobbs and has been a huge hit with viewers ever since.
But she's leaving for a while after bosses agreed to a break so she can reprise the role of Rose in Martin Sherman's one-woman West End play.
She has already filmed her final scenes as Evelyn and will bow out in the coming weeks.
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The good news is that Mauren signed a new contract so will return to Corrie - but not before she's taken to the stage.
"They've really put me through it the last few weeks," she said on Loose Women.
"I've had seven scenes to learn a day. The last shot last night I literally lay on the floor and said, 'I can't go on'."
We then then saw a photo of the actress as Evelyn on the set floor.
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She explained: "That is me at the end of yesterday, and now I'm here sparkling."
Talking about returning as Rose, Maureen said: “I am delighted to be putting Rose back on her bench for a limited run at the Ambassadors in May.
"I thought I could never have the power to revisit Martin Sherman’s mystical, magical deeply philosophical and wildly funny creation, but Rose is in my blood and she has to be revived.”
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Playwright Martin Sherman said of the star: " Maureen Lipman ’s performance as Rose is the greatest gift a playwright could ever dream of.
"Performance is perhaps the wrong word; she totally inhabits the role, the woman, the space, the language, the times, the events.
"I’m so happy that her astonishing alchemy has the opportunity to be witnessed again."