27-05-2025
Corrie's Sue Cleaver reveals 'perfect' exit storyline and date of final scenes
Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver, known for playing Eileen Grimshaw, has revealed what she truly thinks of her character's soap exit storyline.
Her exit date has also been confirmed and fans don't have long to wait to see her final scenes.
The 61-year-old said 'it's never too late to invent yourself' when talking to The Mirror about her Corrie exit.
Cleaver has spent more than two decades in the role but will leave the iconic soap on June 6, reports The Mirror.
Sue's character Eileen will have a big decision to make in her final scenes as she questions whether to go back to Thailand with her son, Jason Grimshaw, played by Ryan Thomas.
Sue said the exit storyline is 'perfect' and what she hoped for.
She told The Mirror: 'I said very much that I would like her to go off to pastures new, you know, to kind of mirror what I'm doing in a sense. And I just think it's time for a change. So it was perfect.
'I'm so happy with the ending, and I was so humbled by it and the way it had been written and what it is. I felt very grateful to have such a wonderful ending written. It seemed very, very apt.'
Cleaver has known she would be leaving Corrie for a year and wanted co-star Ryan Thomas who plays her on-screen son to be in her final scenes.
She said: 'Ryan was there from the start, and he was inconveniently living in Thailand, and it wouldn't be too far of a jump to expect that if Eileen was going to make a leap, that she would involve her son.
'And so when I decided to leave, like over a year ago, I rang Ryan, and I said, 'Ryan, I'm going to tell them that I'm going, and if they ask me about exits, I'd really like to say that you'd come back and take me out, but I don't know whether they'd go for it or not'.
'And he just went, 'Oh my gosh, of course, I would', which was so lovely for me. And it was just so nice to have him back and filming those final scenes with him. It just felt like I'd come full circle really.'
Sue talked about the connection between Eileen and herself both wanting new starts: 'It's never too late to reinvent yourself.
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'It's never too late to be brave and try something new. You just make little tiny steps, just little tiny things every day to change your routine and step out and be fearless.
'And so that's the journey I'm on. And in a sense, yes, Eileen's mirroring that, stepping out into the unknown.'
Sue said her last day filming was 'perfect' but that she didn't want to have a big fuss for her departure.
