Coronation Street legend Helen Worth has quit the ITV soap.
The actress has played Gail Platt since 1974.
Next month, Helen will celebrate 50 years on the show. As well as marking this incredible occasion, she will also step down from her iconic role.
She will begin filming her exit storyline next month, with Gail Platt’s departure expected to air later this year.
‘This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world. I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding’, Helen said.
‘I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew.
‘The past 50 years have flown by and I don’t think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet.’
Joining the show as feisty teenager Gail Potter, she quickly became one of the show’s most iconic characters, and has married five of the street’s men.
As the lodger of the iconic Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), it wasn’t long before we met her mum Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) and she had two children with Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quinten).
Her second marriage was to the much younger Martin Platt (Sean Wilson), with whom she had son David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd). She struggled to forgive his affair with nurse Rebecca and they divorced in 2000, with him moving on to teenager Katy Harris (Lucy-Jo Hudson).
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Following the teenage pregnancy of daughter Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien), she married financial advisor Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), the cousin of late colleague Alma Baldwin (Amanda Barrie). He turned out to be a serial killer that was plotting to acquire her friends and family’s homes through an equity release scheme.
In some of Coronation Street’s most iconic scenes, he went onto drive the entire Platt family into a canal and drowned.
Years later, Gail took a shine to debt-ridden Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale) and they married. Shortly afterwards, he planned to fake his own death in Lake Windermere but drowned, and Gail was falsely imprisoned for his murder.
The latest in a long line of husbands was Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis), who she encountered when was caught burgling No. 8 Coronation Street. A few years after marrying, he suffered a heart attack in front of murderer Pat Phelan, who stood and watched him die.
In 2018, Gail reflected on the death of Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) in one of the show’s most emotive scenes… ever.
Helen was last on our screens in March, in her 4,579th episode.
Speaking during Wednesday’s (June 5) episode of Loose Women, Helen’s co-star and friend Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Metcalfe, opened up about her departure.
She said: ‘We’re going to miss her so much because she’s amazing. Helen was there before I started, she was a guiding light to me really, she’s a wonderful actress and I love her. I’ll miss her’.
Executive Producer Iain Macleod said: ‘The words “legend” and “icon” get used a lot these days but they genuinely do apply to Gail and to Helen Worth. However, given her humility, I know Helen won’t thank me for saying so! In Helen’s hands, Gail has been a huge part of Coronation Street for five decades and at the centre of some of the most memorable storylines – often deriving from her catastrophically bad luck in choosing husbands!
‘Her ill-fated marriage to Richard Hillman was one of the most ground-breaking stories in soap history and cemented Gail’s already established status as one of the Corrie greats.
‘As the matriarch of the Platt clan, her affectionately prickly relationships with her kids and flighty mum Audrey epitomise what makes the show great: complicated family dynamics brought to life impeccably by Helen’s dramatic and comedic chops, alongside those of her fictional clan.
He added: ‘Gail has given us countless hours of entertainment but it should also be said that Helen herself is a consummate professional and a thoroughly good egg. Everyone connected to the show will miss having her around the place just as much as the viewers will miss having her on their screens and we wish her all the very best for the future.’
