Coronation Street actress Sue Cleaver has shared a “special” update in the months after leaving the cobbles. ITV confirmed in January that Sue had decided to say goodbye to the soap after 25 years. She first appeared as Eileen Grimshaw in Weatherfield in 2000 and her character recently fled to Thailand to be with her son Jason.
Katy Cavanagh reprised her role of the lovable Julie Carp, which set the ball rolling for Eileen’s heartbreaking exit storyline. Ryan Thomas (Jason Grimshaw) also made a return to the iconic street to say goodbye to his on-screen mum.
Speaking at the time, he joked: “Sue rang me and said, ‘Can you come back for my exit storyline?’ and when mother says you’ve got to do something, you do it!”
Sue has since joined the Loose Women panel and regularly keeps her fans updated on what she has been doing since she said an emotional goodbye to Eileen.
In a bid to find her love for theatre again, she has also joined the cast of Snake in the Grass at the Theatre Clwyd and Octagon Theatre Bolton. Rehearsals have already commenced for the upcoming shows.
Sue recently celebrated her 63th birthday while in rehearsals for the Snake in the Grass. In a post on social media, she shared a photo of herself in the training room holding a bouquet of flowers while celebrating her special day “away from home”.
She captioned the post: “Although I may be away from home this birthday, I feel so special thanks to the lovely cast & crew at Theatre Clwyd. Grateful to be spending the day rehearsing for Snake in the Grass!”
The post was liked by hundreds of fans, as well as some of her Coronation Street co-stars, including Tony Maudsley (George Shuttleworth), Catherine Tyldesley (Eva Price), Claire Sweeney (Cassie Plummer) and Kate Ford (Tracy Barlow).
Catherine commented: “Happy birthday babe! Love you. Can’t wait to come see you shine xxxx.” Other followers also sent their happy birthday messages.
Sue has previously opened up on her decision to leave the cobbles, as she had been “thinking about it for quite a long time”. Speaking on the ‘Off-Script’ podcast, Sue shared: “I’d been thinking about it for quite a long time. I did the jungle (I’m A Celebrity) on purpose just to step out of my comfort zone.”
The actress continued: “Then I went and did Sister Act the Musical. That was my first love and I hadn’t been on stage for nearly 30 years. So when they asked me to do that, I could either go, oh I can’t do that, or you just go and do it, which I did.”
Sue has been open about wanting to step out of her comfort zone and try new things while she is in her 60s. She said: “I’ve written a book about living fearlessly.
“I really believe that you have to step outside of your comfort zone for things to happen. I feel as a woman of a certain age, I’m 61 now, we’re at the point where society would like us all just to shuffle off quietly and I refuse to go.”
She added: “I really think that you are never too old to start with new challenges. You have so much to give at our age. I just thought I want to reinvent myself, and I want to go out and make my mark on the world in a different way. So that’s why I just wrote the book and I’m sort of just following my own example and that’s what I’m doing.”