Emotional Sue Cleaver lifts the lid on Eileen Grimshaw exit ‘two years within the making’ and divulges baffling fact behind her cleaning soap debut

Sue Cleaver lifted the lid on her character’s exit from Coronation Street on Thursday’s episode of Loose Women. 

The actress, 61, appeared on the panel show to discuss her time on the soap and to reveal what she has planned next.

Sue, who played Eileen for 25 years, recently announced that she would be leaving the show and was ready to focus on new projects. 

She revealed that she had actually come to her decision two years and had even revealed her plan to her I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here camp mates in 2022. 

During her appearance on the ITV show, Sue reflected on her time on the show, telling the panel: ‘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!’.

Sue Cleaver lifted the lid on her character’s exit from Coronation Street on Thursday’s episode of Loose Women

The actress, 61, appeared on the panel show to discuss her time on the soap and to reveal what she has planned next (Sue Cleaver and Lisa George pictured in 2012)

The show then played a montage of the actress’s most memorable moment from her time on the show and then Charlene White asked Sue how she was feeling about leaving. 

The soap star explained she was feeling emotional about it all and added that she had already started filming her exit scenes with Katy Cavanagh who has come back to plas Julie Carp

Despite spending a quarter of a century playing Eileen, who was involved in some of the show’s most dramatic story lines, she said she was now ready to give the character up because her circumstances had changed. 

She said: ‘I went into that show when my son was, well he’s 29 now, he was very young. It became my family!

‘My son is grown up now and I have no responsibilities left and I want to do something new.’

She added that she was now looking forward to focusing more on herself and told the panel: ‘I want this decade to be about me and I want to really empower women to you know – society expects us all to shuffle off, you’ve had your day, but this is my decade.

‘I’m more excited about my decade, as long as I remain well, this is going to be the most exciting decade for me.’ 

But she reassured Coronation Street fans that she would never be too far removed form the ITV show because she is married to a lighting operator. 

Sue, who played Eileen for 25 years, recently announced that she would be leaving the show and was ready to focus on new projects (Sue Cleaver and Ryan Thomas pictured)

She revealed that she had actually come to her decision two years ago and had even revealed her plan to her I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here camp mates in 2022

She joked: ‘lt’s going to be hard but I’ve got a lot of friends there that I’ve got a lot of connections.

‘My husband is the lighting guy so I don’t feel like I’m going far from it!’.

And her impressive 25-year stint on the show was much longer than the star had ever intended. 

She revealed during her interview that she was only ever supposed to be a temporary character and thought she would only be on the Cobbles for a year but she was quickly secured as a regular. 

She added she loved the show because it allowed her to be a mother and to take her children on the school run and be there to pick them up at the end of the day.    

During her time on the show Sue’s character Eileen was employed to work at taxi firm StreetCars, which was run by Vikram Desai (Chris Bisson) and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson).

During her appearance on the ITV show, Sue reflected on her time on the show, telling the panel: ‘I have decided after 25 wonderful years that it is time to hang Eileen back up in the prop cupboard’ (Nadiya Bychkova and Sue pictured)

She added: ‘I’ve decided it’s time to leave, they’re keeping the door firmly open for me. It’s just the right time!’

Sue’s character Eileen has had a dramatic time on the soap and is perhaps best known for her iconic on-screen rivalry with Gail Platt (pictured) as well as her marriage to serial killer Pat Phelan

The role was one she only accepted to provide for her two teenage sons, Jason (Ryan Thomas) and Todd (Bruno Langley).

Eileen went on to feature in some of the show’s most famous storylines, including Todd coming out as the show’s first-ever gay character.

In 2017, she married serial killer Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre), blissfully unaware of his crimes. During a dramatic confrontation on a cliffside in Whitehaven, he fell off the cliff and was presumed dead.

To her surprise, he returned months later and wreaked his final act of revenge on the famed street – before being stabbed by Anna Windass (Debbie Rush).