For the first time, Dame Maureen Lipman, star of Coronation Street, has discussed her character’s impending leave plot.
It was announced back in July that Dame Maureen will be taking a break from Evelyn Plummer later in the year.
On the Inside Soap Awards red carpet on Monday night (September 30), Dame Maureen made a pledge to Digital Spy exclusively: the door will remain open for Evelyn to return in the future.
“The idea is that I don’t get killed off, beaten up, or thrown into the Manchester Ship Canal,” she joked. However, I simply take a step back; something occurs to me, and I leave, but I always have the choice to return.
“Because you don’t want to lose… I don’t want to lose Evelyn! You know that song, ‘I Know Him So Well’?
“Sometimes the scripts are wonderful and sometimes they’re fine but Evelyn always comes out with the right quip at the right time.”
Asked whether she still enjoys her time on the show, Dame Maureen replied: “I love it, yeah. Actors like to have a family around them. It’s nice to walk into a Manchester building and have someone say: ‘Oh hello, Maureen, did you have a nice weekend?’ I like that.”
Dame Maureen was speaking following the news that she had won the Best Comedy Performance prize at the Inside Soap Awards.
Impressively, this is the fourth consecutive year that she has taken the award home.
Reflecting on this year’s victory, Dame Maureen added: “It’s an audience award, so they’re voting for Evelyn Plummer, not really for Maureen Lipman!
“That’s the way it should be. She’s a good character for Corrie. She’s classic Corrie – and she doesn’t murder anybody and she doesn’t do autopsies on people.
“She’s just not very kosher, you know – she’s just a bit belligerent. People like that because everybody really wants to be belligerent but they haven’t got the guts!”
When Dame Maureen’s Corrie sabbatical was first announced in July, a spokesperson for the show told Digital Spy: “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.”
The Inside Soap Awards took place in London and saw Corrie win six prizes on the night, including the coveted Best Soap gong.
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