Coronation Street has filmed funeral scenes for one of the show’s most beloved characters – Julie Carp.
The story not only brings an end to actress Katy Cavanagh-Jupe’s time on the show, but signals an exit for her on-screen sister Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver), who is leaving the ITV soap after 25 years.
Julie returned to the cobbles in February after nine years away, but had decided to keep quiet about her health diagnosis.
She was forced to confide in nephew Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) that she had cancer, before later opening up to heartbroken Eileen.
A source told Metro: ‘Emotions were running high on set as the cast gathered to film Julie’s tragic funeral scenes,’
‘It’s a devastating, if not anticipated end for the character, who recently revealed her terminal cancer diagnosis.
‘As viewers know, the story coincides with Sue Cleaver’s departure, with Eileen starting to contemplate her future in Weatherfield following the death of her sister.
‘There was a real sense of this being the start of an end of an era.’
Loose Women panellist Sue, 61, said that she made the decision to leave the show following a newfound desire to ‘live fearlessly’.
‘I’ve had 25 privileged years of working on Coronation Street’ she said.
‘The door is still firmly open, but as I reached my 60th year, I decided it was time to embrace change, look for new adventures, and live fearlessly.’
The character arrived as a troubled single mum to her two teenage children, Jason (Ryan Thomas) and Todd (then Bruno Langley).
Before long, impressed by her knowledge of Greater Manchester’s roads, Vikram Desai (Chris Bisson) and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) took her on to manage the switchboard at taxi firm StreetCars.
Eileen went on to feature in some of the show’s most famous storylines, including Todd coming out as Corrie’s first-ever gay character.
She is also best known for her long-running feud with Gail Platt (Helen Worth), who departed at Christmas after 50 years.
In 2017, she unknowingly married serial killer Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre). During a dramatic confrontation on a cliffside in Whitehaven, he fell into the water and was presumed dead.
Despite wanting to take on new projects, it has been confirmed that Sue will be part of the line-up in an upcoming Coronation Street stage tour.
The production, which will play four dates in September, will see a number of our favourite cast members talk about their work with This Morning’s soap correspondent Sharon Marshall.
In upcoming scenes, Eileen’s concerns for Julie begin to grow.
Wanting to live her final months to the full, a trip to a cocktail bar in town is arranged.
Ahead of their big night out, Julie decides not to take her medication but later winces in pain, leaning on a wall to support herself.
Eileen and boyfriend George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) notice a horrific accident about to unfold – as a piece of scaffolding falls, narrowly avoiding landing on her.
Building site manager Theo (James Cartwright) rushes over to apologise, although later tells George that Julie is faking her pain as the scaffolding completely missed her.
When Theo learns that Julie is terminally ill, he seeks to make it up to her and tells Todd he will buy her some flowers.
As we know, this is the start of a new romance storyline for Todd, as Theo was one of the three new characters announced to be heading to The Street over the coming months.
It’s going to be a busy few months for the Grimshaw clan!
