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.
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.
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.”
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."
