Coronation Street have revealed the moment Helen Worth wrapped filming as Gail Platt – after 50 years on the ITV soap.
Viewers were saddened to see the stalwart depart on Christmas Day, when she drove off into the sunset for a new life in France with husband Jesse Chadwick (John Thomson).
As the show films out of sequence, those ‘final’ scenes were actually recorded some days prior to her last day on set, as revealed in a new video.
The whole Platt family can be seen gathered in the living room of No. 8 as the first assistant director calls cut. Helen then begins to notice swathes of cast and crew gathering to wish her well.
Emotional, she begins to make a speech: ‘The reason I’ve been here all these years, and it’s a lot of years – it’s more than I can think about really – is because of all of you people that have been here for, well, some of you for all of those fifty years and others for half of that time.
‘But I couldn’t have done any of it without you. I really couldn’t. You are the most amazing team of people, and I really do say thank you.
‘And as for this lot (her fellow cast members), who didn’t tell me. Oh God, I love them so much. I don’t quite know what I’m going to do without you. But thank you for everything.’
Her co-stars can be seen tearing up, as on-screen mum Sue Nicholls, who plays Audrey Roberts, encourages everyone to cheer for her.
David Platt star Jack P. Shepherd said: ‘It was important to us all that we were in her final scene and able to give her the send off she deserves.
‘All the other crews filming that day stood down and there were hundreds of people there to say goodbye.’
Earlier this month, Corrie gave fans a unique look at a video compiled for Helen’s leaving do, featuring some of Gail’s finest moments from across the decades.
The whole team gathered on the Viaduct Bistro set at the show’s production base in October to raise a glass to the legend.
The poignant video takes us on a trip down memory lane from her first scene in 1974 to the present day.
Joining the show as a feisty teenager, she quickly became one of the show’s most iconic characters, and has so far married five of the street’s men.
Firstly the lodger of the incomparable Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), it wasn’t long before we met her estranged mum Audrey and she had two children (and two marriages) with Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quinten).
Her second marriage was to the much younger Martin Platt (Sean Wilson), with whom she had son David.
Following the teenage pregnancy of daughter Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien), she married dodgy financial advisor Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), who turned out to be a serial killer that drove the entire family into a canal.
Brian reprised his role this Christmas as Gail received a visit from beyond the grave in an epic dream sequence!
Years later, Gail took a shine to debt-ridden Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale) and they married – though shortly afterwards he died whilst faking his own death.
After a short marriage to burglar Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis), she then began to regularly holiday in Thailand – where she met current husband Jesse.
The pair squabbled again in recent weeks, given Jesse is Eileen’s ex-boyfriend!
Also included in the 8-minute spectacular is Gail’s emotional reflection on the death of Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward), which was hailed as one of the show’s most emotive scenes ever.
We still can’t believe she’s left – a definite end of an era!
