Sue Cleaver has been a staple on the cobbles for 25 years as Eileen Grimshaw but the actress is now preparing to leave the hit ITV soap

Coronation Street icon Sue Cleaver couldn’t hide her emotions on Thursday’s Loose Women as she confirmed her departure from the ITV soap.

After an impressive 25-year run as Eileen Grimshaw, the actress, 61, discussed her upcoming exit during the daytime chat show. With filming for her final scenes underway, Sue disclosed that she made her mind up to leave the cobbles two years ago and had even shared her decision with some of her fellow contestants on I’m A Celebrity back in 2022.

During the interview, Sue reflected: “I have decided after 25 wonderful years that it is time to hang Eileen back up in the prop cupboard. I’ve decided it’s time to leave, they’re keeping the door firmly open for me. It’s just the right time!”

A moving montage of Sue’s memorable moments on the soap as Eileen led Loose Women presenter Charlene White to confess feeling teary, which Sue acknowledged, sharing her own emotions as she admitted: “Emotional, emotional, I mean 25 years is a long long time!

Coronation Street icon Sue Cleaver couldn’t hide her emotions on Thursday’s Loose Women as she confirmed her departure from the ITV soap(Image: ITV)

“I went into that show when my son was, well he’s 29 now, he was very young. It became my family!”, adding that she didn’t plan to stay on the cobbles for long before becoming a soap staple, reports Lancs Live.

Later in the interview, Charlene, 44, revealed: “I’m just really pleased I can talk about it, I’ve known for a very long time! We spoke about it in the jungle, it’s been a while in the planning stages!”

To which Sue replied: “Yeah, 2022 I’ve been planning it!”, adding: “We’ve started filming my exit storyline, the lovely Katy Cavanagh’s come back who plays Julie Carp.

After an impressive 25-year run as Eileen Grimshaw, the actress, 61, discussed her upcoming exit(Image: SCU)

“We’ve literally started filming that, it’s going to be emotional, it’s going to be hard, I’ve got a lot of friends there, I will still have a connection to it.”

Charlene and Sue both appeared on the 2022 series of I’m A Celebrity. Since her ITV jungle stint, Sue landed a role as a panellist on Loose Women and has also been involved in some theatre productions alongside her soap duties.