Dame Maureen Lipman has played Coronation Street favourite, Evelyn Plummer, since 2018.
Only recently, Maureen, 78, shared that she will be taking some time away from the iconic ITV soap. She'll be on screen less frequently, participating in the show on an occasional basis. This ties into her character's new storyline, where Evelyn has decided to study law at university.
Maureen joined the hit ITV soap back in 2018 and she has revealed plans to enjoy a 'gap year' with her fiancé David Turner as she wants to 'have a bit of a life'.
The soap star announced her engagement to David back in September, revealing she asked her partner to marry her while travelling on a train.
Maureen, who is very quiet about her personal life, revealed that she popped the question after a glitzy event she attended alongside Queen Camilla. David is Maureen's first love since the death of her partner, retired computer expert Guido Castro, who tragically died in January 2021.
Previously, she was married to former Coronation Street writer Jack Rosenthal from 1974 until his death in 2004. Dame Maureen confirmed her happy news in an op-ed piece last year, explaining it was a spur-of-the-moment decision while travelling home from the launch of the Queen's son, Tom Parker-Bowles' latest cooking book.
"Later that night my partner David and I decided to tell our children that, with a combined age of 156, we are going to get married," she said. She continued that she had been "against the M word" but realised that it was the festival of Tu B'Av – a Jewish festival where a woman can ask a man to marry her.
Writing for The Spectator, the actress added: "Unable to resist the gag, I slid under the table separating us onto one knee and asked him for his hand. To my surprise and slight panic, he gave it." David and Maureen went on to reveal the news to her children on September 8, the birthday of her first love and husband the late Jack.
Despite being relatively private, Dame Maureen has previously spoken about losing her beloved Jack and previously told the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2021 about his career at Coronation Street. He died aged 72, with his cause of death being ruled as multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.
She told The People: "I have had a wonderful life, I have had my losses, of course. I lost my husband far too young to myeloma." The actress went on to say: "I lost my partner in January and what gets me through is what gets the Queen through, work. I don't know what to do if I am not working, I don’t know what to be if I am not working."
But four years after losing her husband, the star found love once again. Sadly, Gudio died in 2021 after contracting the coronavirus which "weakened him terribly".
Gudio had been in a respite home having previously been diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's disease. She explained that she had no idea when he contracted the virus, adding that it could have been when he received the vaccination.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: "I said to Guido: 'It's time to go, you've got to let go,' and I think for once in his life he actually did what I told him." Maureen added at the time: "My heart is cracking."
